Elliott, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Elliott, 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 Elliott 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 Elliott — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Elliott — the short answer
Elliott, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 9
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Lee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Elliott's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elliott's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elliott
Each reading below is measured for Elliott itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsElliott runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Lee County, the closest normal to Elliott) — 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
MeasuredElliott 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 Elliott is in
Elliott sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Elliott's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lee County.
What Grows in Elliott
Every plant below cleared Elliott's own zone 8b and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elliott?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 26 — 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 Elliott
Survey cells within 31 miles of Elliott checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 103 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Elliott
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elliott. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ATKINSON GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WRIGHTS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ELMOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- HENRY WILSON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- TURNER OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- HAROLD W ATKINSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- ELLIOTT R SC3660Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- SCARBOROUGHUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- J E ATKINSON JR FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- SAMUEL WRIGHT GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- RIVERSIDE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- BOYS STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elliott'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 Elliott.
Total Sites
164
within ~10 miles of Elliott
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Elliott
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elliott
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Elliott, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 118 sites within ~10 miles of Elliott. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Elliott
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 Elliott average
Your land is one point inside Elliott
Everything above resolves to Elliott as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lee 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 Elliott Average
Elliott Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Elliott
- ●One soil character for all of Elliott
- ●Frost dates read at Elliott's scale: Mar 9 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elliott's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elliott
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elliott, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elliott averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elliott — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elliott average
How we know this about Elliott
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 Lee 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 Elliott
When does frost risk typically end in Elliott?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elliott 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 Elliott?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elliott typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elliott?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elliott sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 9 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 30 to Nov 12, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elliott?
The federal record around Elliott is a meaningful one — 164 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (118), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Elliott?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Elliott's scale — its 8b band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elliott'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 Elliott’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Elliott's own scale — the 1,187 acres it covers and 164 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elliott's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 164 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elliott, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elliott's boundary and the 1,187 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Elliott's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Elliott checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Elliott has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Elliott's 1,187 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lee 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 Lee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elliott's 1,187 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elliott you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,187 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Elliott-wide figureread your own land →
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