Abbeville, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Abbeville, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Abbeville lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Abbeville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Abbeville — the short answer
Abbeville, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 294 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~294
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Wilcox County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Abbeville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Abbeville's 294-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Abbeville
Each reading below is measured for Abbeville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAbbeville runs about 294 days between hard freezes (read from Wilcox County, the closest normal to Abbeville) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAbbeville sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Abbeville is in
Abbeville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Abbeville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wilcox County.
What Grows in Abbeville
Every plant below cleared Abbeville's own zone 8b and its 294-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Abbeville?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Abbeville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Abbeville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RUTHERFORD FORD MOTOR COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- ABBEVILLE SVC CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- QUIK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- KW'S FAS-STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- ROBERT D GRAHAM JRUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- WAYNE HARVEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- NORMAN COHENUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- GA DOT #10457/WILCOX MAINT HQUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CITY DRY CLEANERSBrownfields · 750 ft
- WILCOX STATE PRISONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- ABBEVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- ABBEVILLE 66 SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Abbeville's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Abbeville.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Abbeville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Abbeville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Abbeville, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Abbeville. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Abbeville
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Abbeville average
Your land is one point inside Abbeville
Everything above resolves to Abbeville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Wilcox County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Abbeville Average
Abbeville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Abbeville
- ●One soil character for all of Abbeville
- ●Frost dates read at Abbeville's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Abbeville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Abbeville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Abbeville, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Abbeville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Abbeville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Abbeville average
How we know this about Abbeville
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Wilcox County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Abbeville
When does frost risk typically end in Abbeville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Abbeville typically lands around Feb 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 7.
When is the first frost in Abbeville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Abbeville typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 294 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Abbeville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Abbeville sees about 294 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 21, about 259 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Abbeville?
The federal record around Abbeville is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (34), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Abbeville?
From about Nov 5 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Abbeville's scale — its 8b band and its 294-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Abbeville's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Abbeville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Abbeville's own scale — the 1,956 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Abbeville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Abbeville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Abbeville's boundary and the 1,956 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~294-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Abbeville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Abbeville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Wilcox County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Abbeville's 1,956 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wilcox County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wilcox County
- The growing challenges every Georgia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Georgia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Wilcox County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Abbeville's 1,956 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Abbeville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,956 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Abbeville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Wider growing context
What grows across GeorgiaAbbeville sits outside our named growing regions, so Georgia as a whole is its closest context here.