Bennettsville, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Bennettsville, 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 Bennettsville 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 Bennettsville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bennettsville — the short answer
Bennettsville, South Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 9
- Marlboro County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Marlboro County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- Marlboro County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Marlboro County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Bennettsville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bennettsville's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bennettsville
Each reading below is measured for Bennettsville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBennettsville runs about 261 days between hard freezes (read from Marlboro County, the closest normal to Bennettsville) — 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
MeasuredBennettsville sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Bennettsville is in
Bennettsville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bennettsville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marlboro County.
What Grows in Bennettsville
Every plant below cleared Bennettsville's own zone 8a and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bennettsville?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — 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 Bennettsville
Survey cells within 31 miles of Bennettsville checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 88 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Bennettsville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bennettsville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAST POINT 54Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- SC700Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- SUBURBAN PROPANE GAS COMPANY OF BENNETTSVILLE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- POWELL MANUFACTURING CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- C D'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- EAST SIDE GROCERY LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BENNETTSVILLE CITY OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PEPSI COLA BOTTLING COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MA-SHAKIT #1 LLC DBA ONE STOP FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MIKES SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- OLD CITY HALL SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- AUTO FOUNTAIN EASTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bennettsville'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 Bennettsville.
Total Sites
208
within ~10 miles of Bennettsville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bennettsville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bennettsville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bennettsville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bennettsville — Superfund (4 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (15 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Bennettsville
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 Bennettsville average
Your land is one point inside Bennettsville
Everything above resolves to Bennettsville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Marlboro 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 Bennettsville Average
Bennettsville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Bennettsville
- ●One soil character for all of Bennettsville
- ●Frost dates read at Bennettsville's scale: Mar 9 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bennettsville's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bennettsville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bennettsville, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bennettsville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bennettsville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bennettsville average
How we know this about Bennettsville
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 Marlboro 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 Bennettsville
When does frost risk typically end in Bennettsville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bennettsville typically lands around Mar 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Bennettsville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bennettsville typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bennettsville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bennettsville sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 9 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 30 to Nov 11, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bennettsville?
The federal record around Bennettsville is a meaningful one — 208 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (145), 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 Bennettsville?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bennettsville's scale — its 8a band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bennettsville'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 Bennettsville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bennettsville's own scale — the 3,953 acres it covers and 208 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bennettsville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 208 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bennettsville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bennettsville's boundary and the 3,953 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bennettsville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Bennettsville checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bennettsville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Marlboro County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bennettsville's 3,953 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marlboro County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marlboro 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 Marlboro County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bennettsville's 3,953 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bennettsville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,953 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 Bennettsville-wide figureread your own land →
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