State guide
Planting zones in North Carolina
North Carolina spans USDA zones 6b to 9a across its 850 ZIP codes, so there is no single zone for the state and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 56% of its ZIP codes are zone 8a; the rest are not.
Your ZIP code
Get the exact answer for your address
Everything above describes North 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.
Which zone you are in depends where you are
North Carolina covers 6 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the state one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — which is fine for the 56% in zone 8a and wrong for the other 44%. Here is the actual split, by ZIP code.
| Zone | ZIP codes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8a | 473 | 56% | |
| 8b | 143 | 17% | |
| 7b | 142 | 17% | |
| 7a | 63 | 7% | |
| 9a | 20 | 2% | |
| 6b | 9 | 1% |
Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the state's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.
Your freeze dates
Those are the earliest and latest medians among the 187 stations in North Carolina with an ordinary freeze window — not an average, and not one station standing in for the rest. Half of years freeze later than a station's own median.
Your growing season
NOAA publishes a growing-season length for each station, and across the 187 stations in North Carolina it runs 140–293 days . That figure is published, not computed from the two freeze dates — subtracting one from the other gives the wrong answer wherever a season crosses New Year. Mean summer high (June–August) runs 66–91 °F , reaching the 90 °F point where cool-season crops bolt and tomato and pepper pollen fails — so midsummer sowings of lettuce and its relatives are worth holding in the hotter parts of the state.
The ends of each range, named
A range with no station behind it cannot be checked, and North Carolina has too many stations to table them all. So every figure above is reported here with the station standing at each end of it, by name and NOAA ID. No station on this page represents North Carolina — these are its edges, which is a different claim.
| Measure | Earliest / lowest | Station | Latest / highest | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last spring freeze | March 1 | Frisco 2Nne, NC USC00313336 | May 16 | Mt Mitchell, NC USC00315923 |
| First fall freeze | October 4 | Mt Mitchell, NC USC00315923 | December 22 | Cape Hatteras AP, NC USW00093729 |
| Growing season | 140 days | Mt Mitchell, NC USC00315923 | 293 days | Ocracoke, NC USC00316349 |
| Mean summer high | 66 °F | Mt Mitchell, NC USC00315923 | 91 °F | Cedar Is, NC USC00311606 |
These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.
When to start seeds in North Carolina
Every spring job for 63 crop dates, counted from this state's own last spring freeze. Each is a range across all 187 stations — the earliest and latest that job falls anywhere in North Carolina — because no one station speaks for a whole state. The ranges are wide on purpose: that width is the state.
| Crop | Job | When | Offset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Onions | Start indoors | January 4 – March 21 | 8 weeks before |
| Peppers | Start indoors | January 4 – March 21 | 8 weeks before |
| Broccoli | Start indoors | January 18 – April 4 | 6 weeks before |
| Cabbage | Start indoors | January 18 – April 4 | 6 weeks before |
| Collards | Start indoors | January 18 – April 4 | 6 weeks before |
| Kale | Start indoors | January 18 – April 4 | 6 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Start indoors | January 18 – April 4 | 6 weeks before |
| Peas | Direct sow | January 18 – April 4 | 6 weeks before |
| Spinach | Direct sow | January 18 – April 4 | 6 weeks before |
| Sweet Potato | Start indoors | January 18 – April 4 | 6 weeks before |
| Tomatoes | Start indoors | January 18 – April 4 | 6 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Start indoors | January 25 – April 11 | 5 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Start indoors | January 25 – April 11 | 5 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Start indoors | January 25 – April 11 | 5 weeks before |
| Arugula | Direct sow | February 1 – April 18 | 4 weeks before |
| Baby Salad Greens | Direct sow | February 1 – April 18 | 4 weeks before |
| Beets | Direct sow | February 1 – April 18 | 4 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Direct sow | February 1 – April 18 | 4 weeks before |
| Mustard Greens | Direct sow | February 1 – April 18 | 4 weeks before |
| Okra | Start indoors | February 1 – April 18 | 4 weeks before |
| Radishes | Direct sow | February 1 – April 18 | 4 weeks before |
| Turnips | Direct sow | February 1 – April 18 | 4 weeks before |
| Cabbage | Set out | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Carrots | Direct sow | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Collards | Direct sow | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Collards | Set out | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Cucumbers | Start indoors | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Set out | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Kale | Direct sow | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Kale | Set out | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Direct sow | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Set out | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Direct sow | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Pumpkins | Start indoors | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Summer Squash | Start indoors | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Winter Squash | Start indoors | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Zucchini | Start indoors | February 8 – April 25 | 3 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Direct sow | February 15 – May 2 | 2 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Set out | February 15 – May 2 | 2 weeks before |
| Broccoli | Set out | February 15 – May 2 | 2 weeks before |
| Cilantro | Direct sow | February 15 – May 2 | 2 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Set out | February 15 – May 2 | 2 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Direct sow | February 15 – May 2 | 2 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Set out | February 15 – May 2 | 2 weeks before |
| Dill | Direct sow | February 22 – May 9 | 1 week before |
| Bush Beans | Direct sow | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Cucumbers | Set out | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Pumpkins | Direct sow | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Pumpkins | Set out | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Summer Squash | Direct sow | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Summer Squash | Set out | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Sweet Corn | Direct sow | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Tomatoes | Set out | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Winter Squash | Direct sow | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Winter Squash | Set out | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Zucchini | Direct sow | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Zucchini | Set out | March 8 – May 23 | 1 week after |
| Cucumbers | Direct sow | March 15 – May 30 | 2 weeks after |
| Okra | Direct sow | March 15 – May 30 | 2 weeks after |
| Okra | Set out | March 15 – May 30 | 2 weeks after |
| Peppers | Set out | March 15 – May 30 | 2 weeks after |
| Southern Peas | Direct sow | March 15 – May 30 | 2 weeks after |
| Sweet Potato | Set out | March 15 – May 30 | 2 weeks after |
The week offsets are conventional extension guidance and vary by variety; the freeze dates they are counted from are measured. For a single date rather than a range, run when do I start my seeds? with your own ZIP code.
What survives the winter changes across North Carolina
Of 74 perennial fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and herbs, 58 come through the winter in zone 7a and only 46 in zone 9a. Winter hardiness runs on the zone alone, so each row below is exact for the ZIP codes in it.
| Zone | ZIPs | Survive | Fail for being too warm |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6b | 9 | 51 of 74 | 0 |
| 7a | 63 | 58 of 74 | 1 |
| 7b | 142 | 56 of 74 | 3 |
| 8a | 473 | 57 of 74 | 8 |
| 8b | 143 | 54 of 74 | 11 |
| 9a | 20 | 46 of 74 | 25 |
The best zone in North Carolina is 7a, which is not its mildest — 9a is. The count peaks in the middle and falls both ways, because the warm end loses plants to insufficient winter chill and summer heat rather than to cold. Most temperate fruit needs a documented number of hours below about 45 °F to break dormancy and set a crop, so an apple fails in a winter that is too warm; currants and rhubarb cook in the heat that comes with it. See the full list with reasons.
Your own ZIP
Work out your own dates
Each of these takes a ZIP code and answers for that ZIP alone, citing the station it used and how far away it is. There is a ZIP box in the header of every page.
- What survives my winter?
Runs on the hardiness zone, so it answers exactly for your ZIP code rather than for North Carolina as a whole — 74 perennial fruits, berries, vegetables and herbs.
- When do I start my seeds?
Dates every spring job from your own last freeze — sow indoors, set out, direct sow.
- When do I sow the next round?
How often each crop is worth re-sowing, and when the next sowing is due.
- What can I still plant?
Counts the growing days left before your first fall freeze, crop by crop.
Metro areas in North Carolina
16 metro areas here have its own page, with the freeze dates from every station serving it, a spring calendar built from those stations, and every ZIP code in it listed with that ZIP code's exact zone and nearest station.
- Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Zones 7b–9a
- Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Zones 7b–8a
- Raleigh-Cary, NC Zone 8a
- Greensboro-High Point, NC Zones 7b–8a
- Winston-Salem, NC Zones 7b–8a
- Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Zones 7b–8a
- Asheville, NC Zones 7a–7b
- Wilmington, NC Zones 8a–8b
- Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Zones 6b, 7b, 8a
- Fayetteville, NC Zones 8a–8b
- Rocky Mount, NC Zone 8a
- Jacksonville, NC Zones 8a–8b
- Greenville, NC Zones 8a–8b
- Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC Zone 8a
- Burlington, NC Zone 8a
- Goldsboro, NC Zones 8a–8b
Counties in North Carolina
23 countys here have its own page, listing every ZIP code in it with that ZIP code's exact zone and nearest station. These are the smaller places outside the metro areas above — where most of North Carolina's ZIP codes actually are.
- Carteret County, NC Zones 8b–9a
- Robeson County, NC Zones 8a–8b
- Columbus County, NC Zone 8b
- Duplin County, NC Zone 8a
- Northampton County, NC Zone 8a
- Rutherford County, NC Zones 7b–8a
- Wilkes County, NC Zone 7b
- Ashe County, NC Zone 7a
- Harnett County, NC Zone 8a
- Sampson County, NC Zones 8a–8b
- Bladen County, NC Zones 8a–8b
- Craven County, NC Zone 8b
- Jackson County, NC Zones 7a–7b
- Pamlico County, NC Zone 8b
- Surry County, NC Zone 7b
- Avery County, NC Zones 6b–7a
- Transylvania County, NC Zones 7a–7b
- Halifax County, NC Zone 8a
- Watauga County, NC Zones 6b–7b
- Granville County, NC Zones 7b–8a
- Hyde County, NC Zones 8b–9a
- Macon County, NC Zones 7a–7b
- Scotland County, NC Zone 8a
Other states to compare
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 6b, 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
The hardiness zone is the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. The freeze dates, growing seasons and summer highs are NOAA's 1991–2020 Climate Normals, read from every station in North Carolina. Which ZIP codes are in North Carolina comes from the Census ZIP-to-county relation, since a county's federal code begins with its state's. Nothing here is estimated.
This page names no single station for North Carolina on purpose. Picking one to represent a state sounds reasonable and is not — the same reason the metro pages refuse it, only more so at this size. Instead every range names the station at each end, so you can check both without either one being made to speak for the state.