Nags Head, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Nags Head, 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 Nags Head 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 Nags Head — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nags Head — the short answer
Nags Head, North Carolina: USDA zone 9a, about 303 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Dare County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Dare County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~303
- Dare County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Dare County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Nags Head's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nags Head's 303-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nags Head
Each reading below is measured for Nags Head itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNags Head runs about 303 days between hard freezes (read from Dare County, the closest normal to Nags Head) — 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
MeasuredNags Head sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Nags Head is in
Nags Head sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Nags Head's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dare County.
What Grows in Nags Head
Every plant below cleared Nags Head's own zone 9a and its 303-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nags Head?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Nags Head
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nags Head. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BREW THRU 1Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- NAGS HEAD AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- OUTER BANKS CONTR(NAGS HEAD AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- WEST MARINE, INC.Brownfields · 1600 ft
- THE OUTER BANKS HOSPITAL, INCBrownfields · 1600 ft
- DUCK THRU 24Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- EASTERN FUEL, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- NAGS HEAD COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- JOCKY RIDGE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- TACKLE EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- AMMONS DARE CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- AUSTIN FISH COMPANY/COLONY S/SUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nags Head'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 Nags Head.
Total Sites
163
within ~10 miles of Nags Head
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nags Head
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nags Head
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nags Head, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 46 sites within ~10 miles of Nags Head. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Nags Head
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 Nags Head average
Your land is one point inside Nags Head
Everything above resolves to Nags Head as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dare 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 Nags Head Average
Nags Head Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Nags Head
- ●One soil character for all of Nags Head
- ●Frost dates read at Nags Head's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nags Head's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nags Head
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nags Head, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nags Head averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nags Head — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nags Head average
How we know this about Nags Head
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 Dare 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 Nags Head
When does frost risk typically end in Nags Head?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nags Head typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Nags Head?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nags Head typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 303 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nags Head?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nags Head sees about 303 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Dec 4, about 268 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nags Head?
The federal record around Nags Head is a meaningful one — 163 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (84), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Nags Head?
From about Nov 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nags Head's scale — its 9a band and its 303-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nags Head'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 Nags Head’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Nags Head's own scale — the 4,236 acres it covers and 163 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nags Head's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 163 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nags Head, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nags Head's boundary and the 4,236 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~303-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nags Head's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Nags Head has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dare County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nags Head's 4,236 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dare County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dare 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 Dare County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nags Head's 4,236 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nags Head you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,236 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Nags Head-wide figureread your own land →