Swan Quarter, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Swan Quarter, 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 Swan Quarter 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 Swan Quarter — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Swan Quarter — the short answer
Swan Quarter, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Hyde County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Hyde County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Hyde County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Hyde County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Swan Quarter's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Swan Quarter's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Swan Quarter
Each reading below is measured for Swan Quarter itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSwan Quarter runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Hyde County, the closest normal to Swan Quarter) — 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
MeasuredSwan Quarter 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 Swan Quarter is in
Swan Quarter sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Swan Quarter's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hyde County.
What Grows in Swan Quarter
Every plant below cleared Swan Quarter's own zone 8b and its 293-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Swan Quarter?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 13 — 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 Swan Quarter
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Swan Quarter. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HY-021Nitrate · 2600 ft
- HYDE COUNTY SCHOOLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HY-029Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- HY-030Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- HY-005Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- HY-006Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- HY-026Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- HY-028Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- NC DOT - SWAN QUARTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MATTAMUSKEET NAT WILDLIFE REFUGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SWAN QUARTER EXCHANGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- RYAN'S GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Swan Quarter'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 Swan Quarter.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Swan Quarter
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Swan Quarter
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Swan Quarter, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 16 sites within ~10 miles of Swan Quarter. 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 Swan Quarter
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 Swan Quarter average
Your land is one point inside Swan Quarter
Everything above resolves to Swan Quarter as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hyde 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 Swan Quarter Average
Swan Quarter Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Swan Quarter
- ●One soil character for all of Swan Quarter
- ●Frost dates read at Swan Quarter's scale: Feb 23 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Swan Quarter's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Swan Quarter
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Swan Quarter, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Swan Quarter averages can't show:
We read public map data around Swan Quarter — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Swan Quarter average
How we know this about Swan Quarter
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 Hyde 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 Swan Quarter
When does frost risk typically end in Swan Quarter?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Swan Quarter 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 Swan Quarter?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Swan Quarter typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Swan Quarter?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Swan Quarter sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 29, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Swan Quarter?
The federal record around Swan Quarter is light — 28 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (16), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Swan Quarter?
From about Nov 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Swan Quarter's scale — its 8b band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Swan Quarter'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 Swan Quarter’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Swan Quarter's own scale — the 2,528 acres it covers and 28 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Swan Quarter's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 28 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Swan Quarter, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Swan Quarter's boundary and the 2,528 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~293-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Swan Quarter's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Swan Quarter has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hyde County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Swan Quarter's 2,528 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hyde County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hyde 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 Hyde County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Swan Quarter's 2,528 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Swan Quarter you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,528 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Swan Quarter-wide figureread your own land →