Lamar, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lamar, 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 Lamar 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 Lamar — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lamar — the short answer
Lamar, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 776 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 9
- Darlington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Darlington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- Darlington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 776 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 Darlington County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lamar's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lamar's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lamar
Each reading below is measured for Lamar itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLamar runs about 261 days between hard freezes (read from Darlington County, the closest normal to Lamar) — 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
MeasuredLamar 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 Lamar is in
Lamar sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lamar's own centroid rather than borrowed from Darlington County.
What Grows in Lamar
Every plant below cleared Lamar's own zone 8b and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lamar?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 25 — 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 Lamar
Survey cells within 31 miles of Lamar checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 101 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Lamar
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lamar. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CAROLINA TABLE MANUFACTURING OF LAMAR INCBrownfields · 450 ft
- CHARLIES PUREUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- J&H SMITH MANUFACTURING COBrownfields · 600 ft
- J&H SMITH MANUFACTURING COSuperfund · 600 ft
- YOGI MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- DAR- 66Nitrate · 750 ft
- LAMAR EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR 7561Brownfields · 850 ft
- SIYA LLC DBA LAMAR EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- DAR- 64Nitrate · 900 ft
- DAR- 68Nitrate · 1100 ft
- DAR- 65Nitrate · 1100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lamar'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 Lamar.
Total Sites
129
within ~10 miles of Lamar
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lamar
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lamar
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lamar, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lamar — Superfund (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (83 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Lamar
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 Lamar average
Your land is one point inside Lamar
Everything above resolves to Lamar as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 776 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Darlington 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 Lamar Average
Lamar Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lamar
- ●One soil character for all of Lamar
- ●Frost dates read at Lamar's scale: Mar 9 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lamar's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lamar
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lamar, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lamar averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lamar — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lamar average
How we know this about Lamar
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 Darlington 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 Lamar
When does frost risk typically end in Lamar?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lamar 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 Lamar?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lamar typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lamar?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lamar sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 9 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 30 to Nov 11, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lamar?
The federal record around Lamar is a meaningful one — 129 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (83), the nearest Brownfields 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 Lamar?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lamar's scale — its 8b band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lamar'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 Lamar’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lamar's own scale — the 776 acres it covers and 129 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lamar's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 129 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lamar, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lamar's boundary and the 776 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lamar's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Lamar checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lamar has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Darlington County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lamar's 776 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Darlington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Darlington 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 Darlington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lamar's 776 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lamar you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 776 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Lamar-wide figureread your own land →
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