Hanahan, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Hanahan, 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 Hanahan 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 Hanahan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hanahan — the short answer
Hanahan, South Carolina: USDA zone 9a, about 285 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Berkeley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Berkeley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~285
- Berkeley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Berkeley County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Hanahan's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hanahan's 285-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hanahan
Each reading below is measured for Hanahan itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHanahan runs about 285 days between hard freezes (read from Berkeley County, the closest normal to Hanahan) — 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
MeasuredHanahan sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Hanahan is in
Hanahan sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hanahan's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Berkeley County is mostly Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Hanahan
Every plant below cleared Hanahan's own zone 9a and its 285-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hanahan?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — 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 Hanahan
Survey cells within 31 miles of Hanahan checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 152 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hanahan
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hanahan. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BUCHANAN VW & MAZDAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- HANAHAN WASTEWATER LABUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- YEAMANS HALL MAINTENANCE FACUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- HANAHAN HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- AMAZON.COM SERVICES, LLC-DSC4Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- HANAHAN WATER TREATMENT PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- HANAHAN WATER TREATMENT PLANTBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- FUEL EXPRESS 5Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- 7 ELEVEN STORE 1438-16748Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- 7-ELEVEN 40479Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION (SAIC)Brownfields · 1.5 mi
- DEFENSE FUELS CHARLESTONBrownfields · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hanahan'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 Hanahan.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hanahan
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hanahan
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hanahan, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hanahan — Superfund (27 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (118 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Hanahan
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 Hanahan average
Your land is one point inside Hanahan
Everything above resolves to Hanahan as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Berkeley 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 Hanahan Average
Hanahan Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Hanahan
- ●One soil character for all of Hanahan
- ●Frost dates read at Hanahan's scale: Feb 22 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hanahan's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hanahan
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hanahan, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hanahan averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hanahan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hanahan average
How we know this about Hanahan
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 Berkeley 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 Hanahan
When does frost risk typically end in Hanahan?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hanahan typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Hanahan?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hanahan typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 285 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hanahan?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hanahan sees about 285 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 20, about 250 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hanahan?
The federal record around Hanahan is a meaningful one — 1,402 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (729), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Hanahan?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hanahan's scale — its 9a band and its 285-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hanahan'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 Hanahan’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hanahan's own scale — the 6,726 acres it covers and 1,402 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hanahan's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,402 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hanahan, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hanahan's boundary and the 6,726 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~285-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Hanahan sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Hanahan checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hanahan has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Berkeley County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hanahan's 6,726 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Berkeley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Berkeley 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 Berkeley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hanahan's 6,726 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hanahan you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,726 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Hanahan-wide figureread your own land →