Williston, South Carolina, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Williston, 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 Williston 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 Williston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Williston — the short answer
Williston, South Carolina: USDA zone 8b, about 275 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Barnwell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Barnwell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~275
- Barnwell 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 Barnwell County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Williston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Williston's 275-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Williston
Each reading below is measured for Williston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWilliston runs about 275 days between hard freezes (read from Barnwell County, the closest normal to Williston) — 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
MeasuredWilliston 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 Williston is in
Williston sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Williston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Barnwell County.
What Grows in Williston
Every plant below cleared Williston's own zone 8b and its 275-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Carolina profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Williston?
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 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
Documented around Williston
Survey cells within 31 miles of Williston checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 149 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Williston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Williston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- D & M MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- BW- 10Nitrate · 350 ft
- RITE AID 11672Brownfields · 400 ft
- WILLISTON TELEPHONE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- BRN-54Nitrate · 650 ft
- BAXLEY LAWN & SAW SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- DAYCO CORP WILLISTON PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 850 ft
- DAYCO CORP WILLISTON PLANTBrownfields · 850 ft
- CROFTS ONE STOP SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- BRN- 9Nitrate · 900 ft
- JR FOOD MART 3Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- GRIMES B MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Williston'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 Williston.
Total Sites
86
within ~10 miles of Williston
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Williston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Williston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Williston, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Williston — Toxics Release Inventory (6 sites) and Nitrate (24 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Williston
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 Williston average
Your land is one point inside Williston
Everything above resolves to Williston as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Barnwell 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 Williston Average
Williston Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Williston
- ●One soil character for all of Williston
- ●Frost dates read at Williston's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Williston's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Williston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Williston, South Carolina — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Williston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Williston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Williston average
How we know this about Williston
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 Barnwell 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 Williston
When does frost risk typically end in Williston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Williston typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Williston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Williston 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 275 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Williston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Williston sees about 275 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 14, about 240 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Williston?
The federal record around Williston is a meaningful one — 86 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (43), 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 Williston?
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 Williston's scale — its 8b band and its 275-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Williston'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 Williston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Williston's own scale — the 5,730 acres it covers and 86 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Williston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 86 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Williston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Williston's boundary and the 5,730 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~275-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Williston's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Williston checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Williston has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Barnwell County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Williston's 5,730 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Barnwell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Barnwell 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 Barnwell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Williston's 5,730 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Williston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,730 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 Williston-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Carolina
Wider growing context
What grows across South CarolinaWilliston sits outside our named growing regions, so South Carolina as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides