Ridgeland, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ridgeland, 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 Ridgeland 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 Ridgeland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Ridgeland — the short answer
Ridgeland, South Carolina: USDA zone 9a, about 302 days between hard freezes, across 31K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~302
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 31K 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 Jasper County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Ridgeland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ridgeland's 302-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ridgeland
Each reading below is measured for Ridgeland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRidgeland runs about 302 days between hard freezes (read from Jasper County, the closest normal to Ridgeland) — 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
MeasuredRidgeland sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Ridgeland is in
Ridgeland sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ridgeland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jasper County.
What Grows in Ridgeland
Every plant below cleared Ridgeland's own zone 9a and its 302-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ridgeland?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Ridgeland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ridgeland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COOLERS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- RIDGELAND SOLAR FARMBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- RIDGELAND MARATHONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- GANESH PETROLEUM LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- ARGOS READY MIX CAROLINAS JASPER PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- ATLANTIC SOFT DRINK COUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- CAMPING WORLD RV SALES OF RIDGELAND, SCBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- SHELL OF RIDGELANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- ENK 827Underground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- EZ STOP 4Underground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- ENK 829Underground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- RITE AID #11675Brownfields · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ridgeland'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 Ridgeland.
Total Sites
117
within ~10 miles of Ridgeland
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ridgeland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ridgeland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ridgeland, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 87 sites within ~10 miles of Ridgeland. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Ridgeland
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 Ridgeland average
Your land is one point inside Ridgeland
Everything above resolves to Ridgeland as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 31K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jasper 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 Ridgeland Average
Ridgeland Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Ridgeland
- ●One soil character for all of Ridgeland
- ●Frost dates read at Ridgeland's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ridgeland's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ridgeland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ridgeland, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ridgeland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ridgeland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ridgeland average
How we know this about Ridgeland
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 Jasper 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 Ridgeland
When does frost risk typically end in Ridgeland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ridgeland typically lands around Feb 12, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Ridgeland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ridgeland typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 302 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ridgeland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ridgeland sees about 302 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 27, about 267 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ridgeland?
The federal record around Ridgeland shows 117 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (87), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 miles 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 Ridgeland?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ridgeland's scale — its 9a band and its 302-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ridgeland'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 Ridgeland’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ridgeland's own scale — the 30,938 acres it covers and 117 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ridgeland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 117 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ridgeland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ridgeland's boundary and the 30,938 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~302-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ridgeland's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ridgeland has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jasper County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ridgeland's 30,938 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jasper County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jasper 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 Jasper County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ridgeland's 30,938 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ridgeland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 30,938 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 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 Ridgeland-wide figureread your own land →