Hardeeville, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Hardeeville, 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 Hardeeville 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 Hardeeville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hardeeville — the short answer
Hardeeville, South Carolina: USDA zone 9a, about 302 days between hard freezes, across 38K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~302
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 38K 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 Jasper County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Hardeeville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hardeeville's 302-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hardeeville
Each reading below is measured for Hardeeville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHardeeville runs about 302 days between hard freezes (read from Jasper County, the closest normal to Hardeeville) — 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
MeasuredHardeeville 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 Hardeeville is in
Hardeeville sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hardeeville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jasper County.
What Grows in Hardeeville
Every plant below cleared Hardeeville's own zone 9a and its 302-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hardeeville?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Hardeeville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hardeeville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CIRCLE K 2723855Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- JOKER JOE'S EL CHEAPO 44Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- ENK 863Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- BLUE WATER STORE 9Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- EXXON CO USA 47509Brownfields · 1.5 mi
- H&H FUEL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- COASTAL CAROLINA HOSPITALBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- FLASH SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- ENK 884Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- CSX TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- BLANCHARD MACHINERY COBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- COMBAHEE FOREST HEADQUARTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hardeeville'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 Hardeeville.
Total Sites
123
within ~10 miles of Hardeeville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hardeeville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hardeeville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hardeeville, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Hardeeville. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Hardeeville
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 Hardeeville average
Your land is one point inside Hardeeville
Everything above resolves to Hardeeville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 38K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jasper 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 Hardeeville Average
Hardeeville Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Hardeeville
- ●One soil character for all of Hardeeville
- ●Frost dates read at Hardeeville's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hardeeville's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hardeeville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hardeeville, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hardeeville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hardeeville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hardeeville average
How we know this about Hardeeville
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 Jasper 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 Hardeeville
When does frost risk typically end in Hardeeville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hardeeville typically lands around Feb 12, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Hardeeville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hardeeville typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 302 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hardeeville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hardeeville sees about 302 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 27, about 267 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hardeeville?
The federal record around Hardeeville is a meaningful one — 123 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 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 Hardeeville?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hardeeville's scale — its 9a band and its 302-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hardeeville'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 Hardeeville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hardeeville's own scale — the 38,442 acres it covers and 123 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hardeeville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 123 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hardeeville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hardeeville's boundary and the 38,442 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~302-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hardeeville's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hardeeville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jasper County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hardeeville's 38,442 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jasper County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jasper 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 Jasper County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hardeeville's 38,442 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hardeeville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 38,442 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 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 Hardeeville-wide figureread your own land →