Pine Ridge, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Pine Ridge, 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 Pine Ridge 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 Pine Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pine Ridge — the short answer
Pine Ridge, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 265 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- Lexington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Lexington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~265
- Lexington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Lexington County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Pine Ridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pine Ridge's 265-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pine Ridge
Each reading below is measured for Pine Ridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPine Ridge runs about 265 days between hard freezes (read from Lexington County, the closest normal to Pine Ridge) — 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
MeasuredPine Ridge 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 Pine Ridge is in
Pine Ridge sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Pine Ridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lexington County.
What Grows in Pine Ridge
Every plant below cleared Pine Ridge's own zone 8b and its 265-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pine Ridge?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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 Pine Ridge
Survey cells within 31 miles of Pine Ridge checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 111 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Pine Ridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pine Ridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SCARNG PINE RIDGE SCEMD & CSTBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- CIRCLE K 2708093Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CAYCE CITY OF (3210003)PFAS · 1.0 mi
- SILVER LAKE MHP (SC3260022)PFAS · 1.0 mi
- JACKSON CONSTRUCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- LEX- 61Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- PINE RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- HOME DEPOT DC #5934Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- DIVERSIFIED MEDICAL SERVICESBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- STYX FISH HATCHERY COMPOUNDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- DIAGNOSTIN IMAGING INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- HERBET A WOOD ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pine Ridge'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 Pine Ridge.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pine Ridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pine Ridge
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Pine Ridge
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 Pine Ridge average
Your land is one point inside Pine Ridge
Everything above resolves to Pine Ridge as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lexington 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 Pine Ridge Average
Pine Ridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Pine Ridge
- ●One soil character for all of Pine Ridge
- ●Frost dates read at Pine Ridge's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pine Ridge's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pine Ridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pine Ridge, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pine Ridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pine Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pine Ridge average
How we know this about Pine Ridge
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 Lexington 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 Pine Ridge
When does frost risk typically end in Pine Ridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pine Ridge typically lands around Mar 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Pine Ridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pine Ridge typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 265 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pine Ridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pine Ridge sees about 265 frost-free days — roughly Mar 6 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 27 to Nov 12, about 230 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pine Ridge?
The federal record around Pine Ridge runs heavier than most — 1,647 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,006), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Pine Ridge?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pine Ridge's scale — its 8b band and its 265-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pine Ridge'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 Pine Ridge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pine Ridge's own scale — the 2,892 acres it covers and 1,647 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pine Ridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,647 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pine Ridge, the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pine Ridge's boundary and the 2,892 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~265-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pine Ridge's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Pine Ridge checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pine Ridge has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lexington County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pine Ridge's 2,892 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lexington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lexington 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 Lexington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pine Ridge's 2,892 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pine Ridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,892 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Pine Ridge-wide figureread your own land →
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