Starr, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Starr, 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 Starr 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 Starr — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Starr — the short answer
Starr, South Carolina: USDA zone 8a, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 959 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 10
- Anderson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Anderson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Anderson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 959 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 Anderson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Starr's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Starr's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Starr
Each reading below is measured for Starr itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsStarr runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Anderson County, the closest normal to Starr) — 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
MeasuredStarr sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Starr is in
Starr sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Starr's own centroid rather than borrowed from Anderson County.
What Grows in Starr
Every plant below cleared Starr's own zone 8a and its 264-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Starr?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Starr
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Starr. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HOLLEYS SOLOUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- AUBREY MURPHY DAIRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- KAISER AG CHEMICALUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- MAYFAIR MILLS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- TOLLISONS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- ANDERSON COUNTY STARR C&D AND LAND CLEARING DEBRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- J WILLIS MCGEE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MOORES GRO & CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- HENRYS GAS AND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- STARR-IVA W/D (SC0420005)PFAS · 1.3 mi
- WEST ANDERSON W/D (0420006)PFAS · 1.3 mi
- ENIGMA PROPERTIES LLC DBA REDI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Starr'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 Starr.
Total Sites
380
within ~10 miles of Starr
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Starr
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Starr
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Starr, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Starr — Superfund (7 sites) and PFAS (4 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Starr
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 Starr average
Your land is one point inside Starr
Everything above resolves to Starr as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 959 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Anderson 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 Starr Average
Starr Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Starr
- ●One soil character for all of Starr
- ●Frost dates read at Starr's scale: Mar 10 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Starr's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Starr
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Starr, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Starr averages can't show:
We read public map data around Starr — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Starr average
How we know this about Starr
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 Anderson 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 Starr
When does frost risk typically end in Starr?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Starr typically lands around Mar 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Starr?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Starr typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Starr?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Starr sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 10 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 31 to Nov 15, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Starr?
The federal record around Starr is a meaningful one — 380 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (280), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Starr?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Starr's scale — its 8a band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Starr'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 Starr’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Starr's own scale — the 959 acres it covers and 380 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Starr's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 380 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Starr, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Starr's boundary and the 959 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~264-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Starr's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Starr has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Anderson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Starr's 959 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Anderson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Anderson 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 Anderson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Starr's 959 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Starr you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 959 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Starr-wide figureread your own land →