USDA Hardiness Zone 8A encompasses much of the Southeast (including Georgia, coastal South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and parts of Texas) with average annual minimum temperatures between 10°F and 15°F. The growing season spans 190 frost-free days, from the last spring frost on Apr 16 to the first fall frost on Oct 23. Zone 8A is a warm zone with mild winters suitable for near-year-round gardening. Summer heat requires careful timing: many cool-season crops perform best as fall and winter plantings rather than spring ones. To find your USDA zone by zip code, use our free planting calendar. Browse individual plant guides for detailed growing instructions, or explore how USDA zones work to better understand your growing conditions.
Zone 8A Planting Guide
Last Spring Frost
Apr 16
First Fall Frost
Oct 23
Growing Season
190 days
Filterable list of 100 vegetables, herbs, and flowers for Zone 8A. Each crop links to its plant page for planting dates.
Browse all 100 Zone 8A plant guides →
Jump directly to the detailed growing guide for any plant in Zone 8A.
Vegetables
Herbs
Flowers
Growing guides for Zone 8A
Hand-picked posts from the GardeningByZone blog that apply to your zone.
Printable planting calendar and worksheet
Two PDFs for the Texas region, to print at home.
Texas Regional Bundle: $5.99 (save $3.49)
The calendar and the worksheet together, $3.49 less than buying both.
Buy bundle for $5.99Texas Planting Calendar: $4.49
When to plant vegetables in Texas, by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension's five gardening regions, plus El Paso County. Texas · Zones 6b through 10b. Printable PDF.
Buy for $4.49Texas Planning Worksheet: $4.99
Lay out beds, plan crop rotation and record planting dates, with a crop reference for the Texas region. Printable PDF.
Buy for $4.99Printable PDFs are sold through Stripe, which handles payment and sales tax; your download links arrive by email right after purchase.