Litchfield Beach, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Litchfield Beach, 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 Litchfield Beach 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 Litchfield Beach — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Litchfield Beach — the short answer
Litchfield Beach, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Georgetown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Georgetown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Georgetown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Georgetown County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Litchfield Beach's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Litchfield Beach's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Litchfield Beach
Each reading below is measured for Litchfield Beach itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLitchfield Beach runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Georgetown County, the closest normal to Litchfield Beach) — 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
MeasuredLitchfield Beach 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 Litchfield Beach is in
Litchfield Beach sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Litchfield Beach's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Georgetown County is mostly Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Litchfield Beach
Every plant below cleared Litchfield Beach's own zone 8b and its 289-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Litchfield Beach?
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 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
Documented around Litchfield Beach
Survey cells within 31 miles of Litchfield Beach checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 88 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Litchfield Beach
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Litchfield Beach. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LITCHFIELD COUNTRY CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- PANTRY 409Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- LITCHFIELD GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- GEO- 71Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- PAWLEYS ISLAND SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- PAWLEYS AUTO CENTERBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- CIRCLE K 2723491Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- WILLBROOK GOLF MAINTENANCE FACIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- STRICKLANDS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- RIVER CLUB MAINTENANCE BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- MIDWAY HEADQUARTERS FIRE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- LITCHFIELD HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Litchfield Beach'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 Litchfield Beach.
Total Sites
122
within ~10 miles of Litchfield Beach
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Litchfield Beach
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Litchfield Beach
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Litchfield Beach, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 77 sites within ~10 miles of Litchfield Beach. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Litchfield Beach
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 Litchfield Beach average
Your land is one point inside Litchfield Beach
Everything above resolves to Litchfield Beach as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Georgetown 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 Litchfield Beach Average
Litchfield Beach Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Litchfield Beach
- ●One soil character for all of Litchfield Beach
- ●Frost dates read at Litchfield Beach's scale: Feb 23 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Litchfield Beach's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Litchfield Beach
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Litchfield Beach, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Litchfield Beach averages can't show:
We read public map data around Litchfield Beach — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Litchfield Beach average
How we know this about Litchfield Beach
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 Georgetown 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 Litchfield Beach
When does frost risk typically end in Litchfield Beach?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Litchfield Beach 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 Litchfield Beach?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Litchfield Beach typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Litchfield Beach?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Litchfield Beach sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 25, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Litchfield Beach?
The federal record around Litchfield Beach shows 122 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (77), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Litchfield Beach?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Litchfield Beach's scale — its 8b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Litchfield Beach'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 Litchfield Beach’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Litchfield Beach's own scale — the 7,185 acres it covers and 122 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Litchfield Beach's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 122 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Litchfield Beach, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Litchfield Beach's boundary and the 7,185 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Litchfield Beach sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Litchfield Beach checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Litchfield Beach has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Georgetown County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Litchfield Beach's 7,185 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Georgetown County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Georgetown 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 Georgetown County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Litchfield Beach's 7,185 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Litchfield Beach you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,185 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 Litchfield Beach-wide figureread your own land →