Newry, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Newry, 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 Newry 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 Newry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Newry — the short answer
Newry, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 250 days between hard freezes, across 189 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 14
- Oconee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 19
- Oconee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~250
- Oconee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 189 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 Oconee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Newry's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Newry's 250-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Newry
Each reading below is measured for Newry itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNewry runs about 250 days between hard freezes (read from Oconee County, the closest normal to Newry) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredNewry 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 Newry is in
Newry sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Newry's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oconee County.
What Grows in Newry
Every plant below cleared Newry's own zone 8b and its 250-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Newry?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Newry
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Newry. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HAWKINS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- METROMONT:CLEMSON READY-MIX PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1.3 mi
- BLUE RIDGE ORTHO SENECABrownfields · 1.8 mi
- PUBLIX SUPER MARKET #1671Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- MOUNTAIN LAKES FAMILY MEDICINEBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR 4605Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- LAKE KEOWEE MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- CVS PHARMACY 3537Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- INGLES GAS EXPRESS 94Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- CVS 3537Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- HUTTOS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- ADAMS OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Newry'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 Newry.
Total Sites
499
within ~10 miles of Newry
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
37 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Newry
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Newry
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Newry, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Newry — Toxics Release Inventory (37 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (319 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Newry
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 Newry average
Your land is one point inside Newry
Everything above resolves to Newry as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 189 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Oconee 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 Newry Average
Newry Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Newry
- ●One soil character for all of Newry
- ●Frost dates read at Newry's scale: Mar 14 to Nov 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Newry's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Newry
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Newry, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Newry averages can't show:
We read public map data around Newry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Newry average
How we know this about Newry
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 Oconee 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 Newry
When does frost risk typically end in Newry?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Newry typically lands around Mar 14, 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 Apr 4.
When is the first frost in Newry?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Newry typically arrives around Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 5, so the watching starts about Oct 20 — about 250 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Newry?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Newry sees about 250 frost-free days — roughly Mar 14 through Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 4 to Nov 5, about 215 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Newry?
The federal record around Newry is a meaningful one — 499 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (319), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Newry?
From about Oct 20 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Newry's scale — its 8b band and its 250-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Newry'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 Newry’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Newry's own scale — the 189 acres it covers and 499 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Newry's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 499 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Newry, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Newry's boundary and the 189 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~250-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Newry's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Newry has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Oconee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Newry's 189 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oconee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oconee 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 Oconee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Newry's 189 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Newry you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 189 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Newry-wide figureread your own land →