Varnville, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Varnville, 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 Varnville 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 Varnville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Varnville — the short answer
Varnville, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Hampton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Hampton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Hampton 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 Hampton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Varnville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Varnville's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Varnville
Each reading below is measured for Varnville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsVarnville runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Hampton County, the closest normal to Varnville) — 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
MeasuredVarnville 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 Varnville is in
Varnville sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Varnville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hampton County.
What Grows in Varnville
Every plant below cleared Varnville's own zone 8b and its 289-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Varnville?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (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. 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 Varnville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Varnville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HAM- 18Nitrate · 400 ft
- B&B SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- SMITH OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- TIGER EXPRESS VARNVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- VARNVILLE SER STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CROSSON TEXACO & GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HAMPTON VARNVILLE AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- VARNVILLE SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SCARNG VARNVILLE READINESS CENTER & FMS 14Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- SHAKESPEARE COMPOSITE STRUCTURE LLCToxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- WEYERHAEUSER COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- VARNVILLE ICE HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Varnville'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 Varnville.
Total Sites
113
within ~10 miles of Varnville
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Varnville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Varnville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Varnville, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 74 sites within ~10 miles of Varnville. 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 Varnville
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 Varnville average
Your land is one point inside Varnville
Everything above resolves to Varnville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hampton 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 Varnville Average
Varnville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Varnville
- ●One soil character for all of Varnville
- ●Frost dates read at Varnville's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Varnville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Varnville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Varnville, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Varnville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Varnville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Varnville average
How we know this about Varnville
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 Hampton 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 Varnville
When does frost risk typically end in Varnville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Varnville typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Varnville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Varnville 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 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Varnville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Varnville sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 20, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Varnville?
The federal record around Varnville shows 113 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (74), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Varnville?
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 Varnville's scale — its 8b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Varnville'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 Varnville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Varnville's own scale — the 2,452 acres it covers and 113 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Varnville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 113 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Varnville, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Varnville's boundary and the 2,452 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Varnville's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Varnville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hampton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Varnville's 2,452 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hampton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hampton 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 Hampton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Varnville's 2,452 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Varnville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,452 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Varnville-wide figureread your own land →