Arlington, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Arlington, 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 Arlington 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 Arlington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Arlington — the short answer
Arlington, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Calhoun County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Calhoun County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Calhoun County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Calhoun County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Arlington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Arlington's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Arlington
Each reading below is measured for Arlington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsArlington runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Calhoun County, the closest normal to Arlington) — 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
MeasuredArlington 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 Arlington is in
Arlington sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Arlington's own centroid rather than borrowed from Calhoun County.
What Grows in Arlington
Every plant below cleared Arlington's own zone 8b and its 287-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Arlington?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Arlington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Arlington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MCMURRIA AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- LOIS C THORNTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FLAT TOP GROCERY & MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FINCHER SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- A&P FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ARLINGTON CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- WILLARD ODOM FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- ARLINGTON MFG COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- ZIP TRIP 1Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- ARLINGTON OIL MILLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CALHOUN COUNTY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- GRANVIEW FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Arlington'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 Arlington.
Total Sites
52
within ~10 miles of Arlington
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Arlington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Arlington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Arlington, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Arlington. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Arlington
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 Arlington average
Your land is one point inside Arlington
Everything above resolves to Arlington as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Calhoun 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 Arlington Average
Arlington Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Arlington
- ●One soil character for all of Arlington
- ●Frost dates read at Arlington's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Arlington's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Arlington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Arlington, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Arlington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Arlington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Arlington average
How we know this about Arlington
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 Calhoun 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 Arlington
When does frost risk typically end in Arlington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Arlington typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Arlington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Arlington typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Arlington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Arlington sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 18, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Arlington?
The federal record around Arlington is a meaningful one — 52 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (31), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Arlington?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Arlington's scale — its 8b band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Arlington'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 Arlington’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Arlington's own scale — the 2,558 acres it covers and 52 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Arlington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 52 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Arlington, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Arlington's boundary and the 2,558 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~287-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Arlington's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Arlington has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Calhoun County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Arlington's 2,558 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Calhoun County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Calhoun 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 Calhoun County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Arlington's 2,558 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Arlington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,558 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Arlington-wide figureread your own land →
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