Mesic, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Mesic, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Mesic lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Mesic — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Mesic — the short answer
Mesic, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 292 days between hard freezes, across 660 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Pamlico County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Pamlico County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~292
- Pamlico County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 660 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Pamlico County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Mesic's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mesic's 292-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mesic
Each reading below is measured for Mesic itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMesic runs about 292 days between hard freezes (read from Pamlico County, the closest normal to Mesic) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMesic sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Mesic is in
Mesic sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mesic's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pamlico County.
What Grows in Mesic
Every plant below cleared Mesic's own zone 8b and its 292-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mesic?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
Documented around Mesic
Survey cells within 31 miles of Mesic checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 93 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Mesic
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mesic. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PA-184 PAMLICO COUNTY VANDEMERE 1Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- FOX MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- BRINSON'S LANDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- SLADE'S GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- USCG STATION HOBUCKENBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- FUNNY FARM 1Underground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- PA-010 HOBUCKEN SCHOOLNitrate · 5.2 mi
- PA-040 STATE OF NCNitrate · 6.9 mi
- PAMLICO COUNTY MAINT WAREHSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- BENNETT'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- HATTIE ROBINSON GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- SHEPS SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mesic's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Mesic.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mesic
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mesic, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Mesic — Nitrate (14 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (32 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Mesic
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mesic average
Your land is one point inside Mesic
Everything above resolves to Mesic as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 660 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pamlico County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Mesic Average
Mesic Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Mesic
- ●One soil character for all of Mesic
- ●Frost dates read at Mesic's scale: Feb 23 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mesic's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mesic
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mesic, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mesic averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mesic — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mesic average
How we know this about Mesic
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Pamlico County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Mesic
When does frost risk typically end in Mesic?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mesic typically lands around Feb 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 16.
When is the first frost in Mesic?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mesic typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 292 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mesic?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mesic sees about 292 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 28, about 257 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mesic?
The federal record around Mesic is light — 47 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (32), the nearest Nitrate record about 2.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Mesic?
From about Nov 12 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mesic's scale — its 8b band and its 292-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mesic's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Mesic’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mesic's own scale — the 660 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mesic's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mesic, the closest Nitrate record about 2.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mesic's boundary and the 660 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~292-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mesic's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Mesic checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mesic has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pamlico County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mesic's 660 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pamlico County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pamlico County
- The growing challenges every North Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Carolina
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Pamlico County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mesic's 660 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mesic you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 660 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 2.2 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Mesic-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Carolina
Growing region