Elizabethton, Tennessee, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Elizabethton, 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 Elizabethton 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 Elizabethton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Elizabethton — the short answer
Elizabethton, Tennessee: USDA zone 7b, about 218 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~218
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Elizabethton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elizabethton's 218-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elizabethton
Each reading below is measured for Elizabethton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredElizabethton runs about 218 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
MeasuredElizabethton 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 Elizabethton is in
Elizabethton sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Elizabethton'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 Elizabethton
Every plant below cleared Elizabethton's own zone 7b and its 218-day season. Each card opens that plant's Tennessee profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elizabethton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Documented around Elizabethton
Spotted lanternfly documented 16 miles from Elizabethton, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Elizabethton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elizabethton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Redi Mart #11Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- RICHARD SMITH DBA R & D FINISHINGBrownfields · 2100 ft
- Lewis Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Garland Tire Co., Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #7280Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- NORTH AMERICAN RAYON CORPToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- EAST TENNESSEE CHAIR CO. INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- Big G Market*Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TN0041Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Carter County Highway DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Murphy USA #7113Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER #690Brownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elizabethton'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 Elizabethton.
Total Sites
604
within ~10 miles of Elizabethton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Elizabethton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elizabethton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Elizabethton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Elizabethton — Toxics Release Inventory (49 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (442 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 Elizabethton
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 Elizabethton average
Your land is one point inside Elizabethton
Everything above resolves to Elizabethton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 city 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 Elizabethton Average
Elizabethton Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Elizabethton
- ●One soil character for all of Elizabethton
- ●Frost dates read at Elizabethton's scale: Mar 31 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elizabethton's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elizabethton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elizabethton, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elizabethton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elizabethton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elizabethton average
How we know this about Elizabethton
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Elizabethton’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Elizabethton
When does frost risk typically end in Elizabethton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elizabethton typically lands around Mar 31, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Elizabethton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elizabethton typically arrives around Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 21, so the watching starts about Oct 5 — about 218 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elizabethton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elizabethton sees about 218 frost-free days — roughly Mar 31 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 21 to Oct 21, about 183 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elizabethton?
The federal record around Elizabethton is a meaningful one — 604 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (442), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Elizabethton?
From about Oct 5 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 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 Nov 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Elizabethton's scale — its 7b band and its 218-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elizabethton'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 Elizabethton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Elizabethton's own scale — its own ~218-day season between 28°F freezes, the 6,114 acres it covers and 604 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elizabethton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Elizabethton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 31 and Nov 4 and the ~218-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 604 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elizabethton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elizabethton's boundary and the 6,114 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~218-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Elizabethton 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 Elizabethtonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Elizabethton's 6,114 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 Elizabethton's 6,114 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elizabethton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,114 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Elizabethton-wide figureread your own land →
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