Zone 8
The Coastal Plain of the Carolinas and Georgia, north Florida, much of the Gulf South and warmer parts of the Southwest. Winters are short; summer heat and drought shape plant choice.
What zone 8 means
Zone 8 covers places where the average coldest night of the year falls between 10 and 20 °F (-12 to -7 °C). Zone 8a is the colder half (10 to 15 °F) and zone 8b the warmer half (15 to 20 °F).
A plant rated “hardy to zone 8” is expected to survive that typical winter low with its roots in the ground. 26 plants in the catalog reach the cold edge of their range here — give those a sheltered spot, good drainage and winter mulch.
What the zone doesn’t tell you
- Summer heat and humidity — many plants rated for zone 8 still fail from heat, especially in the Southeast.
- Rainfall and drainage — cold plus wet soil kills plants that would survive cold in dry soil.
- Frost dates — the length of the growing season is a separate question; check local frost dates.
- Your microclimate — walls, slopes, pavement and wind shift conditions by half a zone or more across one property.
Find your exact zone on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, then treat it as one filter among several. The planner’s OL-HARDY check uses the zone you set for the site.
Catalog plants rated for zone 8
Hardiness is necessary, not sufficient: check light, moisture and soil on each plant page, and prefer plants native to your region. Filter the plant library by zone 8.
Trees (34)
Japanese maple · Red maple · Sugar maple · Downy serviceberry · River birch · American hornbeam · Eastern redbud · Desert willow · White fringetree · Chitalpa · Flowering dogwood · Autumn Gold ginkgo · Skyline thornless honeylocust · American holly · Crapemyrtle · Sweetgum · Tulip tree · Southern magnolia · Sweetbay magnolia · Prairifire crabapple · Black gum · Desert Museum palo verde · Blue palo verde · Chinese pistache · Velvet mesquite · Kanzan cherry · Callery pear · White oak · Emory oak · Pin oak · Willow oak · Northern red oak · Southern live oak · Lacebark elm
Conifers (10)
Yoshino Japanese cedar · Arizona cypress · Eastern red cedar · Afghan pine · Pinyon pine · Longleaf pine · Eastern white pine · Loblolly pine · Bald cypress · Green Giant arborvitae
Palms (4)
Mediterranean fan palm · Cabbage palmetto · Windmill palm · California fan palm
Shrubs (52)
Glossy abelia · Black chokeberry · Four-wing saltbush · Japanese barberry · Common boxwood · Fairy duster · American beautyberry · Japanese camellia · Sasanqua camellia · Buttonbush · Dwarf Hinoki cypress · Summersweet · Texas mountain laurel · Hop bush · Burning bush · Apache plume · Border forsythia · Dwarf fothergilla · Gardenia · Rose of Sharon · Annabelle smooth hydrangea · Bigleaf hydrangea · Limelight panicle hydrangea · Oakleaf hydrangea · Nellie R. Stevens holly · Japanese holly · Inkberry · Winterberry · Yaupon holly · Virginia sweetspire · Sea Green juniper · Mountain laurel · Creosote bush · Texas sage · Northern spicebush · Chinese fringe flower · Southern wax myrtle · Nandina · Oleander · Japanese pittosporum · Yew podocarpus · Indian hawthorn · Catawba rhododendron · Gro-Low fragrant sumac · Knock Out rose · Autumn sage · Rosemary · Saw palmetto · Highbush blueberry · Arizona rosewood · Arrowwood viburnum · Weigela
Grasses (13)
Blue grama · Karl Foerster feather reed grass · Hameln fountain grass · Northern sea oats · Golden Japanese forest grass · Morning Light maiden grass · Pink muhly grass · Deer grass · Mexican feather grass · Shenandoah switchgrass · Little bluestem · Prairie dropseed · Big sacaton
Perennials (43)
Common yarrow · Sunset hyssop · Arkansas blue star · Eastern red columbine · Swamp milkweed · Butterfly weed · Astilbe · Desert marigold · Blue false indigo · Lanceleaf coreopsis · Moonbeam threadleaf coreopsis · Purple coneflower · California fuchsia · Little Joe Joe-Pye weed · Rozanne cranesbill · Rose verbena · Stella de Oro daylily · American alumroot · Sum and Substance hosta · Autumn Joy sedum · Siberian iris · Phenomenal lavender · Dense blazing star · Cardinal flower · Blackfoot daisy · Scarlet bee balm · Wild bergamot · Walker's Low catmint · Gaura · Garden peony · Husker Red foxglove beardtongue · Firecracker penstemon · Parry's penstemon · Jeana garden phlox · Goldsturm black-eyed Susan · Black-eyed Susan · Mexican petunia · Black and Blue anise sage · Caradonna meadow sage · Russian sage · Fireworks goldenrod · Desert globemallow · New England aster
Groundcovers (16)
Canadian wild ginger · Japanese painted fern · Pennsylvania sedge · Trailing indigo bush · Hardy ice plant · Blue Rug creeping juniper · Trailing lantana · Lilyturf · Allegheny spurge · Japanese pachysandra · Golden ragwort · Moss phlox · Christmas fern · Creeping thyme · Foamflower · Asiatic jasmine
Vines (11)
Crossvine · Trumpet creeper · Jackman clematis · Carolina jessamine · Climbing hydrangea · Coral honeysuckle · Virginia creeper · Purple passionflower · Star jasmine · Amethyst Falls American wisteria · Chinese wisteria
Succulents (13)
Century plant · Parry's agave · Desert spoon · Engelmann's hedgehog cactus · Fishhook barrel cactus · Ocotillo · Red yucca · Bear grass · Engelmann prickly pear · Eastern prickly pear · Soaptree yucca · Adam's needle · Beaked yucca
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