McClellanville, 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.
These conditions suit okra, fig, peach, and muscadine grape — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in McClellanville, 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 McClellanville 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 McClellanville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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McClellanville — the short answer
McClellanville, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 320 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 1
- Charleston County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 18
- Charleston County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~320
- Charleston County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Charleston County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is McClellanville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against McClellanville's 320-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in McClellanville
Each reading below is measured for McClellanville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMcClellanville runs about 320 days between hard freezes (read from Charleston County, the closest normal to McClellanville) — 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
MeasuredMcClellanville 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 McClellanville is in
McClellanville sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at McClellanville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Charleston County.
What Grows in McClellanville
Plants matched to McClellanville's USDA zones 8b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in McClellanville?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 18 — 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 McClellanville
Survey cells within 31 miles of McClellanville checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 121 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near McClellanville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of McClellanville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CAROLINA SEAFOODS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- LELAND MARINE SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CARPENTERS WOODWORKSBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- HATTAWAYS MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CIRCLE K 2720878Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- KEVINS AUTO REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- LONGBAY STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- PENNS STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- VILLAGE OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- EXXON FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- PALMETTO STORESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- J L'S COASTAL SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from McClellanville'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 McClellanville.
Total Sites
33
within ~10 miles of McClellanville
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of McClellanville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of McClellanville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around McClellanville, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of McClellanville. 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 McClellanville
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 McClellanville average
Your land is one point inside McClellanville
Everything above resolves to McClellanville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Charleston 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 McClellanville Average
McClellanville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across McClellanville
- ●One soil character for all of McClellanville
- ●Frost dates read at McClellanville's scale: Feb 1 to Dec 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not McClellanville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in McClellanville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in McClellanville, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that McClellanville averages can't show:
We read public map data around McClellanville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McClellanville average
How we know this about McClellanville
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 Charleston 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 McClellanville
When does frost risk typically end in McClellanville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in McClellanville typically lands around Feb 1, 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 Feb 22.
When is the first frost in McClellanville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in McClellanville typically arrives around Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 4, so the watching starts about Nov 18 — about 320 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in McClellanville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, McClellanville sees about 320 frost-free days — roughly Feb 1 through Dec 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 22 to Dec 4, about 285 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in McClellanville?
The federal record around McClellanville is light — 33 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in McClellanville?
From about Nov 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at McClellanville's scale — its 8b band and its 320-day season. Your yard writes its own version of McClellanville'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 McClellanville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at McClellanville's own scale — the 1,430 acres it covers and 33 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- McClellanville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 33 documented contamination sites on the federal record near McClellanville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- McClellanville's boundary and the 1,430 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at McClellanville's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around McClellanville checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — McClellanville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Charleston County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so McClellanville's 1,430 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Charleston County
- The candidate plant list — South Carolina's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom South Carolina
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Charleston 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 Charleston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among McClellanville's 1,430 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of McClellanville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,430 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 McClellanville-wide figureread your own land →