Holly Hill, 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.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Holly Hill, 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 Holly Hill 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 Holly Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Holly Hill — the short answer
Holly Hill, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 281 days between hard freezes, across 836 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Orangeburg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Orangeburg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~281
- Orangeburg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 836 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 Orangeburg County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Holly Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Holly Hill's 281-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Holly Hill
Each reading below is measured for Holly Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHolly Hill runs about 281 days between hard freezes (read from Orangeburg County, the closest normal to Holly Hill) — 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
MeasuredHolly Hill 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 Holly Hill is in
Holly Hill sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Holly Hill's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Orangeburg County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Holly Hill
Every plant below cleared Holly Hill's own zone 8b and its 281-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Holly Hill?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (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 Holly Hill
Survey cells within 31 miles of Holly Hill 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 Holly Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Holly Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CVS PHARMACY 5386Brownfields · 550 ft
- V GO MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR 901Brownfields · 700 ft
- SWEATMANS STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- T L SCOTT PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- GEORGIA PACIFIC CORP SAW MILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- ORG- 8Nitrate · 750 ft
- TURNERS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- UST - UNKNOWN 18650Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- UST - UNKNOWN 18651Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- HOLLY HILL MINI WAREHOUSESUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- DOMINION ENERGY SC HOLLY HILLBrownfields · 1000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Holly Hill'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 Holly Hill.
Total Sites
149
within ~10 miles of Holly Hill
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Holly Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Holly Hill
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Holly Hill, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 92 sites within ~10 miles of Holly Hill. 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.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Holly Hill
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 Holly Hill average
Your land is one point inside Holly Hill
Everything above resolves to Holly Hill as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 836 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Orangeburg 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 Holly Hill Average
Holly Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Holly Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Holly Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Holly Hill's scale: Feb 23 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Holly Hill's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Holly Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Holly Hill, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Holly Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Holly Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Holly Hill average
How we know this about Holly Hill
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 Orangeburg 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 Holly Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Holly Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Holly Hill typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Holly Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Holly Hill 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 281 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Holly Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Holly Hill sees about 281 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 17, about 246 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Holly Hill?
The federal record around Holly Hill is a meaningful one — 149 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (92), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Holly Hill?
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 Holly Hill's scale — its 8b band and its 281-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Holly Hill'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 Holly Hill’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Holly Hill's own scale — the 836 acres it covers and 149 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Holly Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 149 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Holly Hill, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Holly Hill's boundary and the 836 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~281-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Holly Hill sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Holly Hill checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Holly Hill has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Orangeburg County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Holly Hill's 836 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Orangeburg County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Orangeburg 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 Orangeburg County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Holly Hill's 836 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Holly Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 836 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Holly Hill-wide figureread your own land →