Shiloh, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Shiloh, 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 Shiloh 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 Shiloh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Shiloh — the short answer
Shiloh, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 265 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 8
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~265
- Sumter County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 6K 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 Sumter County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Shiloh's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Shiloh's 265-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Shiloh
Each reading below is measured for Shiloh itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsShiloh runs about 265 days between hard freezes (read from Sumter County, the closest normal to Shiloh) — 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
MeasuredShiloh 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 Shiloh is in
Shiloh sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Shiloh's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Sumter County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Shiloh
Every plant below cleared Shiloh'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 Shiloh?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — 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 Shiloh
Survey cells within 31 miles of Shiloh checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 116 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Shiloh
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Shiloh. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LUCKY DOG ENTERPRISESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- A&J GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- WOODS BAY STATE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- J T JOHNSON STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- COLONIAL STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- MCELVEENS COLONIALUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- COKERS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- TURBEVILLE IGA PLUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- C E GREENUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- RAY & DONALD COKERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- BECKYS CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- TURBEVILLE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Shiloh'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 Shiloh.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Shiloh
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Shiloh
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Shiloh, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 80 sites within ~10 miles of Shiloh. 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 Shiloh
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 Shiloh average
Your land is one point inside Shiloh
Everything above resolves to Shiloh as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Sumter 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 Shiloh Average
Shiloh Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Shiloh
- ●One soil character for all of Shiloh
- ●Frost dates read at Shiloh's scale: Mar 8 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Shiloh's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Shiloh
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Shiloh, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Shiloh averages can't show:
We read public map data around Shiloh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Shiloh average
How we know this about Shiloh
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 Sumter 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 Shiloh
When does frost risk typically end in Shiloh?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Shiloh typically lands around Mar 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Shiloh?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Shiloh typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 265 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Shiloh?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Shiloh sees about 265 frost-free days — roughly Mar 8 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 29 to Nov 14, about 230 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Shiloh?
The federal record around Shiloh shows 96 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (80), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.8 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 Shiloh?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Shiloh's scale — its 8b band and its 265-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Shiloh'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 Shiloh’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Shiloh's own scale — the 6,247 acres it covers and 96 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Shiloh's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 96 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Shiloh, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Shiloh's boundary and the 6,247 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~265-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Shiloh sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Shiloh checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Shiloh has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Sumter County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Shiloh's 6,247 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sumter County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sumter 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 Sumter County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Shiloh's 6,247 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Shiloh you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,247 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.8 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 Shiloh-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Carolina
Growing region
Nearby growing guides