What USDA hardiness zone is DeKalb County, Alabama?

DeKalb County, Alabama spans USDA hardiness zones 7b to 8a. 53% of its ZIP codes are zone 8a, so there is no single zone for the county.

When is the last spring frost in DeKalb County, Alabama?

The median last spring freeze runs March 29 – April 8 across the 6 NOAA weather stations serving DeKalb County, Alabama, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

Alabama

Planting zones in DeKalb County, Alabama

This county spans USDA zones 7b to 8a, so there is no single zone for DeKalb County and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 53% of its ZIP codes are zone 8a; the rest are not.

USDA zones 7b–8a 2 zones across 15 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 15 15 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 6 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 777 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes DeKalb County, Alabama as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.

What you can sow in DeKalb County now

4 of 32 crops that every one of the 6 NOAA stations serving this county agrees still has time to mature — with a week in hand, so this holds until the page is next rebuilt.

🌱 Radishes 28d
🥬 Arugula 35d
🥬 Spinach 40d
🥬 Mustard Greens 40d

Counted against a first fall freeze of October 29 – November 8 across 6 of those stations, NOAA 1991–2020 normals.

A further 5 crops depend on where in DeKalb County you are — its stations disagree about them. The ZIP lookup above settles it for one address.

All 6 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 6 NOAA stations serving this county counts April 8 – October 29 as growing season (204 days). Widening to any single station gives March 29 – November 8 (224 days).

Which zone you are in depends where you are

DeKalb County covers 2 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the county one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — fine for the 53% in zone 8a and wrong for the other 47%. Here is the actual split.

Zone	ZIP codes	Share
8a	8	53%
7b	7	47%

Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the county's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze March 29 – April 8

First fall freeze October 29 – November 8

Across the 6 NOAA stations serving this county. These are medians — half of years freeze later than the date shown — so treat the later end of each range as the cautious one.

The growing season runs 202–225 days depending which station you are nearest, as published by NOAA rather than computed from the dates above. Summer highs average 85.3–89.6 °F in June–August. Summer rain over the same months runs 12.9–14.2" across those 6 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. At the middle station that is covered, so watering in DeKalb County is for the gaps between storms rather than the whole season. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 87 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

Every ZIP code in DeKalb County

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per county, so this is the exact answer rather than the county's average. The station column is the nearest one to that ZIP code's centroid and how far away it is — the same figure the tools use, shown here so you can see which ZIP codes are well covered and which are reaching.

ZIP code	USDA zone	Nearest NOAA station	Distance
35961	8a	Gadsden 19 N, AL	10.9 km
35962	8a	Sand Mt Substn, AL	6.4 km
35963	8a	Sand Mt Substn, AL	8.8 km
35967	7b	Ft Payne, AL	5.7 km
35968	8a	Ft Payne, AL	7.3 km
35971	8a	Sand Mt Substn, AL	18.8 km
35974	8a	Sand Mt Substn, AL	9.2 km
35975	8a	Sand Mt Substn, AL	19.5 km
35978	7b	Valley Head 1 Ssw, AL	13.4 km
35979	7b	Bridgeport 5 NW, AL	23.8 km
35981	7b	Valley Head, AL	17.4 km
35984	7b	Valley Head, AL	7.1 km
35986	8a	Ft Payne, AL	12.9 km
35988	7b	Ft Payne, AL	14.7 km
35989	7b	Valley Head 1 Ssw, AL	4.0 km

ZIP-code positions are area centroids, so a large rural ZIP code's listed distance is measured from the middle of its area rather than from any particular address in it.

When to start seeds in DeKalb County

Every date below is anchored on the last spring freeze at each station and reported as a range across all 6 of them, because no one station speaks for the county.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
🧅 Green Onions	Start indoors	February 1 – February 11	8 wk before
🌶️ Peppers	Start indoors	February 1 – February 11	8 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Start indoors	February 15 – February 25	6 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Start indoors	February 15 – February 25	6 wk before
🥬 Collards	Start indoors	February 15 – February 25	6 wk before
🥬 Kale	Start indoors	February 15 – February 25	6 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	February 15 – February 25	6 wk before
🫛 Peas	Direct sow	February 15 – February 25	6 wk before
🥬 Spinach	Direct sow	February 15 – February 25	6 wk before
🍠 Sweet Potato	Start indoors	February 15 – February 25	6 wk before
🍅 Tomatoes	Start indoors	February 15 – February 25	6 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Start indoors	February 22 – March 4	5 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Start indoors	February 22 – March 4	5 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Start indoors	February 22 – March 4	5 wk before
🥬 Arugula	Direct sow	March 1 – March 11	4 wk before
🥬 Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	March 1 – March 11	4 wk before
🥕 Beets	Direct sow	March 1 – March 11	4 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Direct sow	March 1 – March 11	4 wk before
🥬 Mustard Greens	Direct sow	March 1 – March 11	4 wk before
🌶️ Okra	Start indoors	March 1 – March 11	4 wk before
🌱 Radishes	Direct sow	March 1 – March 11	4 wk before
🥔 Turnips	Direct sow	March 1 – March 11	4 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Set out	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥕 Carrots	Direct sow	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Direct sow	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Set out	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥒 Cucumbers	Start indoors	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Set out	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Direct sow	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Set out	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Direct sow	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Set out	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🎃 Pumpkins	Start indoors	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🎃 Summer Squash	Start indoors	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🎃 Winter Squash	Start indoors	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥒 Zucchini	Start indoors	March 8 – March 18	3 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Direct sow	March 15 – March 25	2 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Set out	March 15 – March 25	2 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Set out	March 15 – March 25	2 wk before
🌿 Cilantro	Direct sow	March 15 – March 25	2 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Set out	March 15 – March 25	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Direct sow	March 15 – March 25	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Set out	March 15 – March 25	2 wk before
🌿 Dill	Direct sow	March 22 – April 1	1 wk before
🫘 Bush Beans	Direct sow	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Set out	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Direct sow	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Set out	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Direct sow	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Set out	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🌽 Sweet Corn	Direct sow	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🍅 Tomatoes	Set out	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Direct sow	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Set out	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Direct sow	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Set out	April 5 – April 15	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Direct sow	April 12 – April 22	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Direct sow	April 12 – April 22	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Set out	April 12 – April 22	2 wk after
🌶️ Peppers	Set out	April 12 – April 22	2 wk after
🫘 Southern Peas	Direct sow	April 12 – April 22	2 wk after
🍠 Sweet Potato	Set out	April 12 – April 22	2 wk after

Offsets are published guidance; the dates they land on are computed from measured NOAA normals. The seed-starting tool does this for your own ZIP code and counts the days.

What survives the winter changes across DeKalb County

Zone 8a carries 57 of 74 perennial edibles; zone 7b carries 56. The best number is not always the warmest zone — the count peaks in the middle and falls both ways, because the warm end loses plants to insufficient winter chill and summer heat, not to cold.

Hardiness ranges are a judgement, published by growers rather than measured; the zone they are compared against is measured. On a warm-end verdict, check with your local extension service — a coastal zone 8 and an inland zone 8 are not the same summer.

Cautious — shortens the seasonMedian across stationsOptimistic

Last spring freeze: Plan to April 28 to be careful. Median March 29 – April 8 across 6 stations; March 7 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze: Plan to October 17 to be careful. Median October 29 – November 8 across 6 stations; November 29 is the optimistic end.

NOAA publishes these as probabilities, not averages — the middle figure is a median, so half of years fall either side of it. The cautious end is the 10% tail: in roughly nine years in ten the freeze falls on the safe side of it.

The 6 stations behind these numbers

All 6 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 77 km north to south. Every one is named with its identifier in the station list below — this page does not single one out, because no one station speaks for a whole county.

A relative sketch, not a map with a projection: longitude is adjusted for latitude so the shape is not stretched, and there is no basemap. For the one station nearest a specific address, with its real distance, use the ZIP lookup above.

These are the stations this county's ZIP codes actually cite as nearest — not a claim that each one sits inside its boundary, since a rural ZIP legitimately reaches over it. Every figure above comes from them, and each is named so you can check it.

Station	NOAA ID	Last spring freeze	First fall freeze	Season
Bridgeport 5 NW, AL	USC00011099	April 7	October 31	208 days
Ft Payne, AL	USC00013043	March 29	November 8	225 days
Gadsden 19 N, AL	USW00063857	April 1	October 31	212 days
Sand Mt Substn, AL	USC00017207	March 31	November 3	217 days
Valley Head 1 Ssw, AL	USW00063862	April 7	October 30	204 days
Valley Head, AL	USC00018469	April 8	October 29	202 days

These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

This page describes a whole county. Every tool below answers for one ZIP code, which is the grain the underlying data is published at.

Other places to compare

DeKalb County sits in Alabama. That page carries the whole state's zone spread, its metro areas, and every other county in it with a page here.

More of Alabama

Counties with the same zones — 7b–8a

Matched on the exact zone set, not a dominant zone, so the winter answer on these pages really is the same one as here.

Gear

If you want to act on this

Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.

Row cover and frost clothThe season here closes at the first fall freeze dated above — a cover buys back some of those days at the end.
MulchFor the perennials nearest their cold limit in zone 7b, where an insulated crown is what decides whether they come back.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.

Sources

Where these numbers come from

Hardiness zones are the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. Freeze dates and growing-season lengths are NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, taken per station and cited above by name and NOAA ID.

County boundaries come from the Census ZCTA-to-county relation, which is what places each ZIP code — and which treats parishes, boroughs and census areas as county equivalents. No station is chosen to represent this county: every range above is taken across all of them and the count is stated, because picking one would be a judgement dressed as a measurement.