Williamsburg County, in South 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.
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.
Williamsburg County lies within the Pee Dee and Tidewater & Chesapeake — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Williamsburg County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Williamsburg County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Williamsburg County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Williamsburg County — the short answer
Williamsburg County, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 598K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~266
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 598K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Williamsburg County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Williamsburg County's 266-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Williamsburg County
Across a year, Williamsburg County accumulates about 5,342 growing degree days above 50°F, about 194 more than the middle South Carolina county — ahead of 30 of South Carolina’s 46 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 1,207 hours below 45°F, 155 fewer than the South Carolina middle of 1,362. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Williamsburg County
Across Williamsburg County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Eunola, Lynchburg, and Yemassee are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally poorly drained with a sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.6–5.3, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B/D soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Poorly drained
Prime farmland
33%
Hydric soils
43%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Williamsburg County
The USDA soil survey maps 36% of Williamsburg County as poorly drained — but another 63% drains differently: 23% moderately well drained, 19% somewhat poorly drained.
Eunola is the most extensive named soil at 8% of mapped acres, then Lynchburg (7%) and Yemassee (7%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Williamsburg County
Each reading below is measured for Williamsburg County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Williamsburg County are poorly drained, in hydrologic group B/D — ground that sheds water slowly.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Williamsburg County runs about pH 4.6–5.3, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredWilliamsburg County runs about 266 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredWilliamsburg County 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 Williamsburg County is in
Williamsburg County sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Williamsburg County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Williamsburg County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 266-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile.
Is it too late to plant in Williamsburg County?
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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 7 (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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
Documented around Williamsburg County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Williamsburg County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 113 miles off. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly2 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Williamsburg County
USGS estimates 90,382 lb of Glyphosate on Williamsburg County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (23,432 lb) and Dicamba (17,672 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Williamsburg County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Williamsburg County — 275 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Williamsburg County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Williamsburg County
Closest first, across Williamsburg County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WESTVACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- KINGSTREE OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- FLAGLER GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- NATHENE WILLIAMSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- S A GUERRY & SONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- VICKISUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- KINGSTREE TOWN OF (4510002)PFAS · 3.9 mi
- A J BROWNUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- COOPER SUPERETTTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- RODGERS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- ELSIES GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- R&R GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Williamsburg County'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 Williamsburg County.
Total Sites
275
across Williamsburg County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Williamsburg County
Severity Distribution
across Williamsburg County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Williamsburg County, two things run higher than the national average across Williamsburg County — PFAS (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (189 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Williamsburg County
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 Williamsburg County average
Your land is one point inside Williamsburg County
Everything above resolves to Williamsburg County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 598K acres. 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Williamsburg County Average
Williamsburg County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Williamsburg County
- ●One soil character for all of Williamsburg County
- ●Frost dates read at Williamsburg County's scale: Mar 7 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Williamsburg County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Williamsburg County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Williamsburg County, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Williamsburg County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Williamsburg County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Williamsburg County average
How we know this about Williamsburg County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Williamsburg County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Williamsburg County
When does frost risk typically end in Williamsburg County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Williamsburg County typically lands around Mar 7, 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 28.
How long is the growing season in Williamsburg County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Williamsburg County sees about 266 frost-free days — roughly Mar 7 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 28 to Nov 14, about 231 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Williamsburg County?
The federal record around Williamsburg County is a meaningful one — 275 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (189), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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.
Everything above is measured at Williamsburg County's scale — its 8b band and its 266-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Williamsburg County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads South Carolina's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Williamsburg County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Williamsburg County's own scale — its own ~266-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 275 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Williamsburg County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Williamsburg County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~266-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Williamsburg CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 275 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Williamsburg County's boundary and the 597,865 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~266-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Williamsburg County sitting wholly inside the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Williamsburg County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Williamsburg County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every South Carolina grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Carolina
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Williamsburg County — the ~266 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Williamsburg County's 597,865 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 275 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Williamsburg Countyread your own land →