What USDA hardiness zone is Oconee County, South Carolina?

Oconee County, South Carolina spans USDA hardiness zones 8a to 8b. 82% of its ZIP codes are zone 8a, so there is no single zone for the county.

When is the last spring frost in Oconee County, South Carolina?

The median last spring freeze runs March 20 – April 26 across the 5 NOAA weather stations serving Oconee County, South Carolina, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

South Carolina

Planting zones in Oconee County, South Carolina

This county spans USDA zones 8a to 8b, so there is no single zone for Oconee County and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 82% of its ZIP codes are zone 8a; the rest are not.

USDA zones 8a–8b 2 zones across 11 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 11 11 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 5 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 627 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Oconee County, South Carolina 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.

Oconee County does not have one planting answer

Its own weather stations disagree about 14 of the 32 crops in this table right now, so any single list would be wrong for part of the county. That is not a gap in the data — it is what the data says.

Shortest season: 174 days
JOCASSEE 8 WNW, SC US (USC00384581)
Longest season: 241 days
HARTWELL, GA US (USC00094133)

67 days of growing season separate those two stations, and both serve ZIP codes in Oconee County. The ZIP lookup above answers for one address instead of averaging a place that has no average.

Why the hardiness zone does not settle this

A USDA zone is a winter-minimum statistic. It was never a growing-season one, and it does not behave like one: within a single zone the growing season runs a median 54 days wider at the 10th–90th percentile, and annual growing degree days vary by 2.02×.

The zones also overlap rather than stack — 30% of zone 6b freezes before the median zone 6a station. The zone tells you what survives your winter; the station tells you what finishes before your autumn.

The whole dataset behind that →

All 5 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 5 NOAA stations serving this county counts April 26 – October 17 as growing season (174 days). Widening to any single station gives March 20 – November 15 (240 days).

That is a 66-day difference inside one county — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.

Which zone you are in depends where you are

Oconee 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 82% in zone 8a and wrong for the other 18%. Here is the actual split.

Zone	ZIP codes	Share
8a	9	82%
8b	2	18%

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 20 – April 26

First fall freeze October 17 – November 15

Across the 5 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 174–241 days depending which station you are nearest, as published by NOAA rather than computed from the dates above. Summer highs average 79.3–87.3 °F in June–August. Summer rain over the same months runs 13.0–23.7" across those 5 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 Oconee 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 Oconee 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
29643	8a	Hartwell, GA	17.8 km
29658	8a	Long Creek, SC	4.5 km
29664	8a	Long Creek, SC	13.6 km
29665	8b	Clemson Oconee Co AP, SC	6.4 km
29672	8a	Clemson Oconee Co AP, SC	9.8 km
29676	8a	Jocassee 8 Wnw, SC	8.6 km
29678	8b	Clemson Oconee Co AP, SC	6.2 km
29686	8a	Jocassee 8 Wnw, SC	3.5 km
29691	8a	Walhalla, SC	3.3 km
29693	8a	Walhalla, SC	14.5 km
29696	8a	Walhalla, SC	6.8 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 Oconee County

Every date below is anchored on the last spring freeze at each station and reported as a range across all 5 of them, because no one station speaks for the county.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
🧅 Green Onions	Start indoors	January 23 – March 1	8 wk before
🌶️ Peppers	Start indoors	January 23 – March 1	8 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Start indoors	February 6 – March 15	6 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Start indoors	February 6 – March 15	6 wk before
🥬 Collards	Start indoors	February 6 – March 15	6 wk before
🥬 Kale	Start indoors	February 6 – March 15	6 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	February 6 – March 15	6 wk before
🫛 Peas	Direct sow	February 6 – March 15	6 wk before
🥬 Spinach	Direct sow	February 6 – March 15	6 wk before
🍠 Sweet Potato	Start indoors	February 6 – March 15	6 wk before
🍅 Tomatoes	Start indoors	February 6 – March 15	6 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Start indoors	February 13 – March 22	5 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Start indoors	February 13 – March 22	5 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Start indoors	February 13 – March 22	5 wk before
🥬 Arugula	Direct sow	February 20 – March 29	4 wk before
🥬 Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	February 20 – March 29	4 wk before
🥕 Beets	Direct sow	February 20 – March 29	4 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Direct sow	February 20 – March 29	4 wk before
🥬 Mustard Greens	Direct sow	February 20 – March 29	4 wk before
🌶️ Okra	Start indoors	February 20 – March 29	4 wk before
🌱 Radishes	Direct sow	February 20 – March 29	4 wk before
🥔 Turnips	Direct sow	February 20 – March 29	4 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Set out	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥕 Carrots	Direct sow	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Direct sow	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Set out	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥒 Cucumbers	Start indoors	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Set out	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Direct sow	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Set out	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Direct sow	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Set out	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🎃 Pumpkins	Start indoors	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🎃 Summer Squash	Start indoors	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🎃 Winter Squash	Start indoors	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥒 Zucchini	Start indoors	February 27 – April 5	3 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Direct sow	March 6 – April 12	2 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Set out	March 6 – April 12	2 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Set out	March 6 – April 12	2 wk before
🌿 Cilantro	Direct sow	March 6 – April 12	2 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Set out	March 6 – April 12	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Direct sow	March 6 – April 12	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Set out	March 6 – April 12	2 wk before
🌿 Dill	Direct sow	March 13 – April 19	1 wk before
🫘 Bush Beans	Direct sow	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Set out	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Direct sow	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Set out	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Direct sow	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Set out	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🌽 Sweet Corn	Direct sow	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🍅 Tomatoes	Set out	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Direct sow	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Set out	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Direct sow	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Set out	March 27 – May 3	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Direct sow	April 3 – May 10	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Direct sow	April 3 – May 10	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Set out	April 3 – May 10	2 wk after
🌶️ Peppers	Set out	April 3 – May 10	2 wk after
🫘 Southern Peas	Direct sow	April 3 – May 10	2 wk after
🍠 Sweet Potato	Set out	April 3 – May 10	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 Oconee County

Zone 8a carries 57 of 74 perennial edibles; zone 8b carries 54. 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 May 12 to be careful. Median March 20 – April 26 across 5 stations; March 1 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze: Plan to October 5 to be careful. Median October 17 – November 15 across 5 stations; December 5 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 5 stations behind these numbers

All 5 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 70 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
Clemson Oconee Co AP, SC	USW00053850	March 21	November 11	236 days
Hartwell, GA	USC00094133	March 20	November 15	241 days
Jocassee 8 Wnw, SC	USC00384581	April 26	October 17	174 days
Long Creek, SC	USC00385278	April 9	October 29	205 days
Walhalla, SC	USC00388887	April 11	October 30	203 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

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

More of South Carolina

Counties with the same zones — 8a–8b

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 8a, 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.