Williamsburg, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Williamsburg, 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 Williamsburg 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 Williamsburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Williamsburg — the short answer
Williamsburg, Virginia: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- 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 8a is Williamsburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Williamsburg's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Williamsburg
Each reading below is measured for Williamsburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWilliamsburg 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
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWilliamsburg sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Williamsburg is in
Williamsburg sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Williamsburg's own centroid rather than borrowed from Williamsburg city.
What Grows in Williamsburg
Every plant below cleared Williamsburg's own zone 8a and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Williamsburg?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
Documented around Williamsburg
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Williamsburg, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Williamsburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Williamsburg. 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 RANGEBrownfields · 2200 ft
- US NAVY CHEATHAM ANNEX RANGEToxics Release Inventory · 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'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.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Williamsburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Williamsburg
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Williamsburg
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 average
Your land is one point inside Williamsburg
Everything above resolves to Williamsburg 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 Williamsburg Average
Williamsburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Williamsburg
- ●One soil character for all of Williamsburg
- ●Frost dates read at Williamsburg's scale: Mar 12 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Williamsburg's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Williamsburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Williamsburg, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Williamsburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Williamsburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Williamsburg average
How we know this about Williamsburg
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 Williamsburg’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 Williamsburg
When does frost risk typically end in Williamsburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Williamsburg 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.
When is the first frost in Williamsburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Williamsburg typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Williamsburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Williamsburg 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?
The federal record around Williamsburg is a meaningful one — 487 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (244), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Williamsburg?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Williamsburg's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Williamsburg'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 Williamsburg’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Williamsburg's own scale — its own ~262-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,720 acres it covers and 487 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Williamsburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Williamsburg's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 12 and Nov 29 and the ~262-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 487 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Williamsburg, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Williamsburg'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
- The ecoregion at Williamsburg's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Williamsburglydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Williamsburg's 5,720 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Williamsburg County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Williamsburg 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 Williamsburg County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Williamsburg's 5,720 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Williamsburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,720 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Williamsburg-wide figureread your own land →
More in Virginia
Wider growing context
What grows across VirginiaWilliamsburg sits outside our named growing regions, so Virginia as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides