Alcolu, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Alcolu, 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 Alcolu 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 Alcolu — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Alcolu — the short answer
Alcolu, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 270 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Clarendon County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Clarendon County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~270
- Clarendon 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 Clarendon County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Alcolu's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alcolu's 270-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Alcolu
Each reading below is measured for Alcolu itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAlcolu runs about 270 days between hard freezes (read from Clarendon County, the closest normal to Alcolu) — 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
MeasuredAlcolu 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 Alcolu is in
Alcolu sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Alcolu's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clarendon County.
What Grows in Alcolu
Every plant below cleared Alcolu's own zone 8b and its 270-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Alcolu?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
Documented around Alcolu
Survey cells within 31 miles of Alcolu checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 125 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Alcolu
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Alcolu. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- J F CLECKLEY & COBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- COUNTRY STORE ANTIQUESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- ALCOLU MERCANTILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- GOLD KIST COMPLEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FORMER ELIZABETH JONES SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- GEORGIA PACIFIC ALCOLU PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- JONES SALES CO (US POST OFFICE)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- MOORE FOOD STORE 122Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- GEORGIA-PACIFIC WOOD PRODUCTS LLC - CLARENDON OSBToxics Release Inventory · 2.1 mi
- GEORGIA-PACIFIC WOOD PRODUCTS LLC - CLARENDON OSBBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- SSC ALCOLU CHEMICAL PLANTBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- SHORTYSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Alcolu'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 Alcolu.
Total Sites
154
within ~10 miles of Alcolu
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Alcolu
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Alcolu
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Alcolu, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 114 sites within ~10 miles of Alcolu. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Alcolu
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 Alcolu average
Your land is one point inside Alcolu
Everything above resolves to Alcolu as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clarendon 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 Alcolu Average
Alcolu Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Alcolu
- ●One soil character for all of Alcolu
- ●Frost dates read at Alcolu's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Alcolu's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Alcolu
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alcolu, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Alcolu averages can't show:
We read public map data around Alcolu — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alcolu average
How we know this about Alcolu
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 Clarendon 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 Alcolu
When does frost risk typically end in Alcolu?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alcolu 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 Alcolu?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Alcolu 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 270 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Alcolu?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alcolu sees about 270 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 14, about 235 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alcolu?
The federal record around Alcolu is a meaningful one — 154 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (114), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Alcolu?
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 Alcolu's scale — its 8b band and its 270-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alcolu'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 Alcolu’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Alcolu's own scale — the 2,911 acres it covers and 154 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Alcolu's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 154 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Alcolu, the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Alcolu's boundary and the 2,911 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 Alcolu's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Alcolu checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Alcolu has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clarendon County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Alcolu's 2,911 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clarendon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clarendon County
- The growing challenges every South Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Carolina
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Clarendon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alcolu's 2,911 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Alcolu you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,911 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Alcolu-wide figureread your own land →
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