Oak Hill, Tennessee, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, 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 Oak Hill, 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 Oak Hill 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 Oak Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oak Hill — the short answer
Oak Hill, Tennessee: USDA zone 7a, about 233 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~233
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 5K 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 7a is Oak Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oak Hill's 233-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oak Hill
Each reading below is measured for Oak Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOak Hill runs about 233 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
MeasuredOak Hill sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Oak Hill is in
Oak Hill sits in the Interior Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Oak Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Davidson County.
What Grows in Oak Hill
Every plant below cleared Oak Hill's own zone 7a and its 233-day season. Each card opens that plant's Tennessee profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oak Hill?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 11 — 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 Oak Hill
Spotted lanternfly documented 6 miles from Oak Hill, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Oak Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oak Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 4150 Granny White Twice DailyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- DV:F-001Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- Key Investment, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Ellington Agricultural Center, Old Maintenance ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Monroe Harding Childrens HomeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- STATE OF TN, EXECUTIVE RESIDENCEBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- Mapco Express No. 3333Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- 4106 Emmett's CitgoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Williams Express Inc. No. 3192Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- TARGET T - 1983Brownfields · 2.0 mi
- Fire Hall # 27Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- All American Rental And SalesUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oak Hill'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 Oak Hill.
Total Sites
1,819
within ~10 miles of Oak Hill
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oak Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oak Hill
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oak Hill, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Oak Hill — Underground Storage Tanks (1,215 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (120 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Oak Hill
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 Oak Hill average
Your land is one point inside Oak Hill
Everything above resolves to Oak Hill as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Oak Hill Average
Oak Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Oak Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Oak Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Oak Hill's scale: Mar 23 to Nov 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oak Hill's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oak Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oak Hill, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oak Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oak Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oak Hill average
How we know this about Oak Hill
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 Oak Hill’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 Oak Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Oak Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Hill typically lands around Mar 23, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Oak Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Hill typically arrives around Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 28, so the watching starts about Oct 12 — about 233 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oak Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oak Hill sees about 233 frost-free days — roughly Mar 23 through Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 13 to Oct 28, about 198 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oak Hill?
The federal record around Oak Hill is a meaningful one — 1,819 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,215), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Oak Hill?
From about Oct 12 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Oak Hill's scale — its 7a band and its 233-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oak Hill'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 Oak Hill’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Oak Hill's own scale — its own ~233-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,021 acres it covers and 1,819 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oak Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Oak Hill's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 23 and Nov 11 and the ~233-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,819 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oak Hill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oak Hill's boundary and the 5,021 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~233-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oak Hill's own centroid, the Interior PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Oak Hilllydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oak Hill's 5,021 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Davidson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Davidson 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 Davidson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oak Hill's 5,021 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oak Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,021 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Oak Hill-wide figureread your own land →