Hampton, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Hampton, 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 Hampton 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 Hampton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hampton — the short answer
Hampton, Virginia: USDA zone 8b, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 33K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Hampton city normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Hampton city normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Hampton city normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 33K 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 Hampton city’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Hampton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hampton's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hampton
Each reading below is measured for Hampton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHampton runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Hampton city, the closest normal to Hampton) — 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
MeasuredHampton 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 Hampton is in
Hampton sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hampton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hampton city.
What Grows in Hampton
Every plant below cleared Hampton's own zone 8b and its 289-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hampton?
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 Dec 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
Documented around Hampton
Spotted lanternfly documented 11 miles from Hampton, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hampton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hampton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CARTERS CORNER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 18370Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- EXXON CO USA 20411Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Salt Ponds Marina ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BAY SHORE PUMP STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- HAMPTON RMLRUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BUCKROE AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Crown VA-013Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 7-Eleven 34312Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- ENGIN EXCHANGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Verizon Hampton Co 55024Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hampton'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 Hampton.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hampton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hampton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hampton, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 666 sites within ~10 miles of Hampton. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Hampton
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 Hampton average
Your land is one point inside Hampton
Everything above resolves to Hampton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 33K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hampton city’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 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 Hampton Average
Hampton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Hampton
- ●One soil character for all of Hampton
- ●Frost dates read at Hampton's scale: Feb 26 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hampton's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hampton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hampton, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hampton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hampton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hampton average
How we know this about Hampton
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 Hampton city’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 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 Hampton
When does frost risk typically end in Hampton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hampton 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 Hampton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hampton typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hampton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hampton sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 28, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hampton?
The federal record around Hampton is a meaningful one — 1,029 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (666), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Hampton?
From about Nov 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 Dec 12 (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 Dec 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hampton's scale — its 8b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hampton'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 Hampton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hampton's own scale — the 32,935 acres it covers and 1,029 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hampton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,029 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hampton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hampton's boundary and the 32,935 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hampton's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Hamptonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hampton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hampton city
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hampton's 32,935 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hampton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hampton County
- The growing challenges every Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Virginia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Hampton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hampton's 32,935 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hampton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 32,935 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Hampton-wide figureread your own land →