Washington, North Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Washington, 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 Washington 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 Washington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Washington — the short answer
Washington, North Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 275 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Beaufort County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Beaufort County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~275
- Beaufort County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Beaufort County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Washington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Washington's 275-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Washington
Each reading below is measured for Washington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWashington runs about 275 days between hard freezes (read from Beaufort County, the closest normal to Washington) — 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
MeasuredWashington 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 Washington is in
Washington sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Washington's own centroid rather than borrowed from Beaufort County.
What Grows in Washington
Every plant below cleared Washington's own zone 8b and its 275-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Washington?
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 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
Documented around Washington
Survey cells within 31 miles of Washington checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 75 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Washington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Washington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TRACTOR SUPPLY #1263Brownfields · 400 ft
- KMART 9667Underground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- SPEEDWAY #8209Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- SAVE-MOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- WASHINGTON COAL GAS PLANTSuperfund · 1100 ft
- HWY 17 BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- THE GAS BAR 3Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BO-244Nitrate · 2400 ft
- BO-245Nitrate · 2400 ft
- BO-220Nitrate · 2400 ft
- BO-221Nitrate · 2400 ft
- WASHINGTON TOYOTAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Washington'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 Washington.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Washington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Washington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Washington, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Washington — Superfund (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (152 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Washington
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 Washington average
Your land is one point inside Washington
Everything above resolves to Washington as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Beaufort County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Washington Average
Washington Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Washington
- ●One soil character for all of Washington
- ●Frost dates read at Washington's scale: Mar 3 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Washington's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Washington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Washington, North Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Washington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Washington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Washington average
How we know this about Washington
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Beaufort 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Washington
When does frost risk typically end in Washington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Washington typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Washington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Washington typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 275 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Washington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Washington sees about 275 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 19, about 240 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Washington?
The federal record around Washington is a meaningful one — 231 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (152), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Washington?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Washington's scale — its 8b band and its 275-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Washington'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 Washington’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Washington's own scale — the 5,242 acres it covers and 231 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Washington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 231 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Washington, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Washington's boundary and the 5,242 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~275-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Washington's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Washington checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Washington has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Beaufort County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Washington's 5,242 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Beaufort County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Beaufort 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 Beaufort County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Washington's 5,242 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Washington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,242 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Washington-wide figureread your own land →