Ulmer, 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.
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 Ulmer, 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 Ulmer 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 Ulmer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ulmer — the short answer
Ulmer, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- Allendale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Allendale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~266
- Allendale 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 Allendale County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Ulmer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ulmer's 266-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ulmer
Each reading below is measured for Ulmer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsUlmer runs about 266 days between hard freezes (read from Allendale County, the closest normal to Ulmer) — 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
MeasuredUlmer 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 Ulmer is in
Ulmer sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ulmer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Allendale County.
What Grows in Ulmer
Every plant below cleared Ulmer's own zone 8b and its 266-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ulmer?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 27 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Ulmer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ulmer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EDISTO RECYCLINGBrownfields · 1400 ft
- MOHAWK INDUSTRIES INC - ULME R FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 1400 ft
- MOHAWK INDUSTRIES INC - ULME R FACILITYBrownfields · 1400 ft
- JF CLECKLEY & CO PLANT 2Brownfields · 2500 ft
- CONNELLY TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- INTERSTATE TRUCK TERMINAL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FAILS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- KEARSE MANUFACTURING COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- AL- 384Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- REA CONTRACTING DIV OF LANE CONST CORP ULMERSBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- KIRKLAND FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- LUDONIA INCBrownfields · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ulmer'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 Ulmer.
Total Sites
126
within ~10 miles of Ulmer
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ulmer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ulmer
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Ulmer
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 Ulmer average
Your land is one point inside Ulmer
Everything above resolves to Ulmer as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Allendale 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 Ulmer Average
Ulmer Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Ulmer
- ●One soil character for all of Ulmer
- ●Frost dates read at Ulmer's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ulmer's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ulmer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ulmer, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ulmer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ulmer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ulmer average
How we know this about Ulmer
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 Allendale 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 Ulmer
When does frost risk typically end in Ulmer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ulmer 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 Ulmer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ulmer typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 266 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ulmer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ulmer sees about 266 frost-free days — roughly Mar 6 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 27 to Nov 13, about 231 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ulmer?
The federal record around Ulmer shows 126 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (75), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Ulmer?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ulmer's scale — its 8b band and its 266-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ulmer'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 Ulmer’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ulmer's own scale — the 1,753 acres it covers and 126 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ulmer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 126 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ulmer, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ulmer's boundary and the 1,753 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~266-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ulmer's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ulmer has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Allendale County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ulmer's 1,753 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Allendale County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Allendale 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 Allendale County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ulmer's 1,753 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ulmer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,753 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Ulmer-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Carolina
Wider growing context
What grows across South CarolinaUlmer sits outside our named growing regions, so South Carolina as a whole is its closest context here.