Kingstree, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kingstree, 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 Kingstree 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 Kingstree — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kingstree — the short answer
Kingstree, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 7
- Williamsburg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Williamsburg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~266
- Williamsburg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Williamsburg County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Kingstree's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kingstree's 266-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kingstree
Each reading below is measured for Kingstree itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsKingstree runs about 266 days between hard freezes (read from Williamsburg County, the closest normal to Kingstree) — 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
MeasuredKingstree 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 Kingstree is in
Kingstree sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Kingstree's own centroid rather than borrowed from Williamsburg County.
What Grows in Kingstree
Every plant below cleared Kingstree's own zone 8b and its 266-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kingstree?
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 Kingstree
Survey cells within 31 miles of Kingstree checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 118 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Kingstree
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kingstree. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KINGSTREE TOWN OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- WL- 11Nitrate · 550 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #4654Brownfields · 1100 ft
- SC FORESTRY COMMISSION KINGSTREE HANGERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MCCUTCHEN SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SAMS QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- EXCHANGE BANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- HICKSONS TIRESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- HICKS USED TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- MCKNIGHTS GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- BYRDICS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- WINSLOW CHEVROLET INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kingstree'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 Kingstree.
Total Sites
162
within ~10 miles of Kingstree
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kingstree
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kingstree
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kingstree, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 108 sites within ~10 miles of Kingstree. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Kingstree
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 Kingstree average
Your land is one point inside Kingstree
Everything above resolves to Kingstree as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Williamsburg 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 Kingstree Average
Kingstree Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Kingstree
- ●One soil character for all of Kingstree
- ●Frost dates read at Kingstree's scale: Mar 7 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kingstree's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kingstree
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kingstree, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kingstree averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kingstree — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kingstree average
How we know this about Kingstree
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 Williamsburg 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 Kingstree
When does frost risk typically end in Kingstree?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kingstree 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.
When is the first frost in Kingstree?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kingstree typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 266 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kingstree?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kingstree 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 Kingstree?
The federal record around Kingstree is a meaningful one — 162 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (108), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Kingstree?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kingstree's scale — its 8b band and its 266-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kingstree'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 Kingstree’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Kingstree's own scale — the 2,035 acres it covers and 162 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kingstree's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 162 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kingstree, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kingstree's boundary and the 2,035 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~266-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Kingstree's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Kingstree checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Kingstree has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Williamsburg County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kingstree's 2,035 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Williamsburg County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Williamsburg 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 Williamsburg County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kingstree's 2,035 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kingstree you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,035 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Kingstree-wide figureread your own land →