Riegelwood, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Riegelwood, 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 Riegelwood 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 Riegelwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Riegelwood — the short answer
Riegelwood, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 270 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 5
- Columbus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Columbus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~270
- Columbus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Columbus County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Riegelwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Riegelwood's 270-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Riegelwood
Each reading below is measured for Riegelwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRiegelwood runs about 270 days between hard freezes (read from Columbus County, the closest normal to Riegelwood) — 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
MeasuredRiegelwood 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 Riegelwood is in
Riegelwood sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Riegelwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Columbus County.
What Grows in Riegelwood
Every plant below cleared Riegelwood's own zone 8b and its 270-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Riegelwood?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — 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 Riegelwood
Spotted lanternfly documented 21 miles from Riegelwood, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Riegelwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Riegelwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RIEGELWOOD EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- HAN-DEE HUGO'S 1Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- INTERNATIONAL PAPER COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SCOTCHMAN 3021Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HOLTRACHEM MANUFACTURING CO LLCToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- HOLTRACHEM MANUFACTURING CO LLCSuperfund · 0.8 mi
- ADR CHAIN SAW, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- INTERNATIONAL PAPER RIEGELWOOD MILLSuperfund · 0.9 mi
- INTERNATIONAL PAPER RIEGELWOOD MILLBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- INTERNATIONAL PAPER RIEGELWOOD MILLToxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- WRIGHT CHEMICAL CORPORATIONSuperfund · 1.2 mi
- WEST FRASER, INC. - ARMOUR LUMBER MILLBrownfields · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Riegelwood'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 Riegelwood.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Riegelwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Riegelwood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Riegelwood, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Riegelwood — Superfund (5 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (8 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Riegelwood
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 Riegelwood average
Your land is one point inside Riegelwood
Everything above resolves to Riegelwood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Columbus 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 Riegelwood Average
Riegelwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Riegelwood
- ●One soil character for all of Riegelwood
- ●Frost dates read at Riegelwood's scale: Mar 5 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Riegelwood's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Riegelwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Riegelwood, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Riegelwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Riegelwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Riegelwood average
How we know this about Riegelwood
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 Columbus 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 Riegelwood
When does frost risk typically end in Riegelwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Riegelwood typically lands around Mar 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Riegelwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Riegelwood typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 270 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Riegelwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Riegelwood sees about 270 frost-free days — roughly Mar 5 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 26 to Nov 16, about 235 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Riegelwood?
The federal record around Riegelwood is a meaningful one — 69 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (33), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Riegelwood?
From about Oct 31 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 Nov 30 (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 Nov 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Riegelwood's scale — its 8b band and its 270-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Riegelwood'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 Riegelwood’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Riegelwood's own scale — the 1,972 acres it covers and 69 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Riegelwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 69 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Riegelwood, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Riegelwood's boundary and the 1,972 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~270-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Riegelwood's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Riegelwoodlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Riegelwood has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Columbus County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Riegelwood's 1,972 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Columbus County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Columbus 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 Columbus County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Riegelwood's 1,972 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Riegelwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,972 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Riegelwood-wide figureread your own land →
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