Williamsburg city, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Williamsburg city holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Williamsburg city, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Williamsburg city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Williamsburg city — the short answer
Williamsburg city, Virginia: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 6K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 8a is Williamsburg city's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Williamsburg city's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Williamsburg city
Across a year, Williamsburg city accumulates about 4,489 growing degree days above 50°F, about 755 more than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 125 of Virginia’s 133 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 1,776 hours below 45°F, 662 fewer than the Virginia middle of 2,438. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Williamsburg County
Across Williamsburg County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Tomotley, Peawick, and Bethera are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.6–5.1, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
22%
Hydric soils
36%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Williamsburg city
The USDA soil survey maps 30% of Williamsburg city as moderately well drained — but another 60% drains differently: 27% poorly drained, 13% well drained.
Tomotley is the most extensive named soil at 13% of mapped acres, then Peawick (11%) and Bethera (8%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Williamsburg city
Each reading below is measured for Williamsburg city itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Williamsburg city are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group D — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Williamsburg city runs about pH 4.6–5.1, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 36% of Williamsburg city is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredWilliamsburg city runs about 262 days between hard freezes — 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
The kind of country Williamsburg city is in
Williamsburg city sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Williamsburg city
We scored all 1,086 plants against Williamsburg city's own USDA zone 8a and its own 262-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile.
Is it too late to plant in Williamsburg city?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Williamsburg city
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Williamsburg city, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Williamsburg County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Williamsburg County — 81 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Toxics Release Inventory facility. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Williamsburg County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Williamsburg city
Closest first, across Williamsburg County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- College of William & MaryUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Verizon - 404 South Henry StreetUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- 57G 32Nitrate · 1000 ft
- NAT'L CENTER FOR STATE COURTSBrownfields · 1500 ft
- NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SENTRY FOOD MART #54Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CROTHALL LAUNDRYBrownfields · 2200 ft
- W&M GOLF & TENNIS CLUB INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- US NAVY CHEATHAM ANNEX RANGEToxics Release Inventory · 2200 ft
- US NAVY CHEATHAM ANNEX RANGEBrownfields · 2200 ft
- 57G 25Nitrate · 2300 ft
- WILLIAMSBURG HOSPITALITY HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Williamsburg city'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 Williamsburg city.
Total Sites
81
across Williamsburg County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
across Williamsburg County
Severity Distribution
across Williamsburg County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Williamsburg city, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 51 sites across Williamsburg County. 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 Williamsburg city
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 Williamsburg city average
Your land is one point inside Williamsburg city
Everything above resolves to Williamsburg city as a whole — one PHZM band and one county 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Williamsburg city Average
Williamsburg city Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Williamsburg city
- ●One soil character for all of Williamsburg city
- ●Frost dates read at Williamsburg city's scale: Mar 12 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Williamsburg city's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Williamsburg city
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Williamsburg city, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Williamsburg city averages can't show:
We read public map data around Williamsburg city — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Williamsburg city average
How we know this about Williamsburg city
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Williamsburg city carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Williamsburg city
When does frost risk typically end in Williamsburg city?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Williamsburg city typically lands around Mar 12, 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 2.
How long is the growing season in Williamsburg city?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Williamsburg city sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 12 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 2 to Nov 15, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Williamsburg city?
The federal record around Williamsburg city shows 81 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (51), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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.
Everything above is measured at Williamsburg city's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Williamsburg city's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Virginia's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Williamsburg city’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Williamsburg city's own scale — its own ~262-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 81 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Williamsburg city's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Williamsburg city's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~262-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Williamsburg cityUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 81 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- Williamsburg city's boundary and the 5,720 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Williamsburg city sitting wholly inside the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Williamsburg city for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Virginia
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Williamsburg city — the ~262 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Williamsburg city's 5,720 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 81 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Williamsburg cityread your own land →