Varnamtown, 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.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Varnamtown, 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 Varnamtown 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 Varnamtown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Varnamtown — the short answer
Varnamtown, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 265 days between hard freezes, across 564 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 8
- Brunswick County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Brunswick County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~265
- Brunswick County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 564 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 Brunswick County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Varnamtown's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Varnamtown's 265-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Varnamtown
Each reading below is measured for Varnamtown itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsVarnamtown runs about 265 days between hard freezes (read from Brunswick County, the closest normal to Varnamtown) — 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
MeasuredVarnamtown 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 Varnamtown is in
Varnamtown sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Varnamtown's own centroid rather than borrowed from Brunswick County.
What Grows in Varnamtown
Every plant below cleared Varnamtown's own zone 8b and its 265-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Varnamtown?
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 Feb 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
Documented around Varnamtown
Spotted lanternfly documented 28 miles from Varnamtown, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Varnamtown
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Varnamtown. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- SMITH & SON SHELL STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- BR-265Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- BR-280 HOLDEN BEACH SURFICIALNitrate · 1.8 mi
- BR-080 NC-182 SUNSET HARBOR RS SURFICIALNitrate · 2.0 mi
- BR-079 SUNSET HARBOR RS PEEDEENitrate · 2.0 mi
- VILLAGE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- MIDWAY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- SHALLOTTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- BOLIVIA TOWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- WWAY-TV TRANSMITTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Varnamtown'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 Varnamtown.
Total Sites
184
within ~10 miles of Varnamtown
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Varnamtown
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Varnamtown
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Varnamtown, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 56 sites within ~10 miles of Varnamtown. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Varnamtown
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 Varnamtown average
Your land is one point inside Varnamtown
Everything above resolves to Varnamtown as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 564 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Brunswick 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 Varnamtown Average
Varnamtown Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Varnamtown
- ●One soil character for all of Varnamtown
- ●Frost dates read at Varnamtown's scale: Mar 8 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Varnamtown's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Varnamtown
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Varnamtown, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Varnamtown averages can't show:
We read public map data around Varnamtown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Varnamtown average
How we know this about Varnamtown
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 Brunswick 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 Varnamtown
When does frost risk typically end in Varnamtown?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Varnamtown typically lands around Mar 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Varnamtown?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Varnamtown typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 265 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Varnamtown?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Varnamtown sees about 265 frost-free days — roughly Mar 8 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 29 to Nov 14, about 230 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Varnamtown?
The federal record around Varnamtown is a meaningful one — 184 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (109), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Varnamtown?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Varnamtown's scale — its 8b band and its 265-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Varnamtown'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 Varnamtown’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Varnamtown's own scale — the 564 acres it covers and 184 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Varnamtown's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 184 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Varnamtown, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Varnamtown's boundary and the 564 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~265-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Varnamtown's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Varnamtownlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Varnamtown has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Brunswick County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Varnamtown's 564 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Brunswick County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Brunswick 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 Brunswick County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Varnamtown's 564 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Varnamtown you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 564 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Varnamtown-wide figureread your own land →
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