Russellville, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Russellville, 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 Russellville 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 Russellville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Russellville — the short answer
Russellville, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 285 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Berkeley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Berkeley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~285
- Berkeley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Berkeley County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Russellville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Russellville's 285-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Russellville
Each reading below is measured for Russellville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRussellville runs about 285 days between hard freezes (read from Berkeley County, the closest normal to Russellville) — 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
MeasuredRussellville 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 Russellville is in
Russellville sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Russellville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Berkeley County.
What Grows in Russellville
Every plant below cleared Russellville's own zone 8b and its 285-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Russellville?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
Documented around Russellville
Survey cells within 31 miles of Russellville checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 133 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Russellville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Russellville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GP STUD MILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- GEORGIA PACIFIC CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- FLAKEBOARD AMERICA LIMITED RUSSELLVILLE FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FLAKEBOARD RUSSELLVILLE PARTICLEBOARD PLANTBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- FLAKEBOARD RUSSELLVILLE PARTICLEBOARD PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- GEORGIA PACIFIC CORPBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- GEORGIA PACIFIC CORPToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- PENSKE TRUCK LEASINGBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- RELIABLE ELECTRIC COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 1.5 mi
- RELIABLE ELECTRIC COMPANYBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- FORMER ST STEPHEN WATER SYSTEMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- CARLS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Russellville'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 Russellville.
Total Sites
128
within ~10 miles of Russellville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Russellville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Russellville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Russellville, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Russellville. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Russellville
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 Russellville average
Your land is one point inside Russellville
Everything above resolves to Russellville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Berkeley 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 Russellville Average
Russellville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Russellville
- ●One soil character for all of Russellville
- ●Frost dates read at Russellville's scale: Feb 22 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Russellville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Russellville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Russellville, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Russellville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Russellville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Russellville average
How we know this about Russellville
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 Berkeley 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 Russellville
When does frost risk typically end in Russellville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Russellville typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Russellville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Russellville typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 285 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Russellville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Russellville sees about 285 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 20, about 250 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Russellville?
The federal record around Russellville is a meaningful one — 128 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (73), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Russellville?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Russellville's scale — its 8b band and its 285-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Russellville'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 Russellville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Russellville's own scale — the 2,396 acres it covers and 128 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Russellville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 128 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Russellville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Russellville's boundary and the 2,396 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~285-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Russellville's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Russellville checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Russellville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Berkeley County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Russellville's 2,396 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Berkeley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Berkeley 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 Berkeley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Russellville's 2,396 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Russellville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,396 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Russellville-wide figureread your own land →