Biltmore, Tennessee, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Biltmore, 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 Biltmore 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 Biltmore — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Biltmore — the short answer
Biltmore, Tennessee: USDA zone 7b, about 214 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~214
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 7b is Biltmore's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Biltmore's 214-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Biltmore
Each reading below is measured for Biltmore itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBiltmore runs about 214 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBiltmore sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Biltmore is in
Biltmore sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Biltmore's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Carter County is mostly Blue Ridge. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Biltmore
Every plant below cleared Biltmore's own zone 7b and its 214-day season. Each card opens that plant's Tennessee profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Biltmore?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Biltmore
Spotted lanternfly documented 14 miles from Biltmore, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Biltmore
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Biltmore. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Hyder's Sunshine Market No. 2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Sunshine MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- TRI CITY PLATING CO., INC.Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- Carter Co School Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Williams MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Tennessee Valley AuthorityUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Barn BeverageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- American Air FilterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 776th Maintenance CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Broad Street VolcoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Tobacco Depot #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Super Food Store #148Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Biltmore'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 Biltmore.
Total Sites
569
within ~10 miles of Biltmore
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Biltmore
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Biltmore
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Biltmore, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Biltmore — Toxics Release Inventory (49 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (422 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Biltmore
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 Biltmore average
Your land is one point inside Biltmore
Everything above resolves to Biltmore as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K acres. 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 Biltmore Average
Biltmore Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Biltmore
- ●One soil character for all of Biltmore
- ●Frost dates read at Biltmore's scale: Apr 1 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Biltmore's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Biltmore
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Biltmore, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Biltmore averages can't show:
We read public map data around Biltmore — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Biltmore average
How we know this about Biltmore
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 Biltmore’s own record; 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 Biltmore
When does frost risk typically end in Biltmore?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Biltmore typically lands around Apr 1, 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 Apr 22.
When is the first frost in Biltmore?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Biltmore typically arrives around Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 18, so the watching starts about Oct 2 — about 214 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Biltmore?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Biltmore sees about 214 frost-free days — roughly Apr 1 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 22 to Oct 18, about 179 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Biltmore?
The federal record around Biltmore is a meaningful one — 569 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (422), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles 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 Biltmore?
From about Oct 2 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Biltmore's scale — its 7b band and its 214-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Biltmore'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 Biltmore’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Biltmore's own scale — its own ~214-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,642 acres it covers and 569 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Biltmore's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Biltmore's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 1 and Nov 1 and the ~214-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 569 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Biltmore, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Biltmore's boundary and the 1,642 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~214-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Biltmore sits in the Ridge and Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Biltmorelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Biltmore's 1,642 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Carter County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Carter County
- The growing challenges every Tennessee grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Tennessee
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Carter County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Biltmore's 1,642 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Biltmore you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,642 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Biltmore-wide figureread your own land →
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