Cameron, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Cameron, 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 Cameron 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 Cameron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cameron — the short answer
Cameron, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Calhoun County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Calhoun County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~278
- Calhoun County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Calhoun County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Cameron's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cameron's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cameron
Each reading below is measured for Cameron itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCameron runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Calhoun County, the closest normal to Cameron) — 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
MeasuredCameron 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 Cameron is in
Cameron sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cameron's own centroid rather than borrowed from Calhoun County.
What Grows in Cameron
Every plant below cleared Cameron's own zone 8b and its 278-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cameron?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — 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 Cameron
Survey cells within 31 miles of Cameron checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 134 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Cameron
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cameron. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HELENA CHEMICAL COSuperfund · 100 ft
- CAMERON FOOD SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- THE CAMERON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- HELENA CHEMICAL COMPANY, CAMERON FACILITYBrownfields · 2300 ft
- CAMERON LUMBER COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ROYSTER PALMETTO COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- W H WHETSTONE FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- CROP PRODUCTION SERVICESToxics Release Inventory · 4.6 mi
- COOPER TOOLS ORANGEBURG-CLOSEDToxics Release Inventory · 4.6 mi
- TRIANGLE TOOL GROUP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- MOSS H PERROW FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- MORTON CUSTOM PLASTICSToxics Release Inventory · 5.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cameron'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 Cameron.
Total Sites
319
within ~10 miles of Cameron
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cameron
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cameron
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cameron, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Cameron — Underground Storage Tanks (217 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (20 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Cameron
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 Cameron average
Your land is one point inside Cameron
Everything above resolves to Cameron as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Calhoun 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 Cameron Average
Cameron Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Cameron
- ●One soil character for all of Cameron
- ●Frost dates read at Cameron's scale: Feb 26 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cameron's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cameron
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cameron, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cameron averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cameron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cameron average
How we know this about Cameron
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 Calhoun 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 Cameron
When does frost risk typically end in Cameron?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cameron typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Cameron?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cameron typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 278 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cameron?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cameron sees about 278 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 17, about 243 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cameron?
The federal record around Cameron is a meaningful one — 319 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (217), the nearest Superfund 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 Cameron?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cameron's scale — its 8b band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cameron'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 Cameron’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cameron's own scale — the 2,000 acres it covers and 319 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cameron's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 319 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cameron, the closest Superfund record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cameron's boundary and the 2,000 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cameron's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Cameron checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cameron has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Calhoun County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cameron's 2,000 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Calhoun County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Calhoun 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 Calhoun County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cameron's 2,000 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cameron you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,000 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund 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 Cameron-wide figureread your own land →