Ashburn, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ashburn, 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 Ashburn 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 Ashburn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Ashburn — the short answer
Ashburn, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 295 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 13
- Turner County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Turner County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~295
- Turner 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 Turner County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Ashburn's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ashburn's 295-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ashburn
Each reading below is measured for Ashburn itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAshburn runs about 295 days between hard freezes (read from Turner County, the closest normal to Ashburn) — 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
MeasuredAshburn sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Ashburn is in
Ashburn sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ashburn's own centroid rather than borrowed from Turner County.
What Grows in Ashburn
Every plant below cleared Ashburn's own zone 9a and its 295-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ashburn?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 13 (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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Ashburn
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ashburn. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TURNER COUNTY GAUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- TURNER CO ELEM ASHBURNUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- PERRY FUNERAL CHAPEL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- GOLD KIST STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SCOTT OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- 16M011Nitrate · 1200 ft
- G&S P-66 SERV STATION/SCOTT OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- ASHBURN SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #4021Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- WILBUR-ELLIS CO. FERTILIZER FIRESuperfund · 1500 ft
- BUSY CORNER #176Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- E-Z SERVE #4360Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ashburn'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 Ashburn.
Total Sites
111
within ~10 miles of Ashburn
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ashburn
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ashburn
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ashburn, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ashburn — Nitrate (34 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (69 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Ashburn
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 Ashburn average
Your land is one point inside Ashburn
Everything above resolves to Ashburn as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Turner 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 Ashburn Average
Ashburn Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Ashburn
- ●One soil character for all of Ashburn
- ●Frost dates read at Ashburn's scale: Feb 13 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ashburn's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ashburn
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ashburn, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ashburn averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ashburn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ashburn average
How we know this about Ashburn
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 Turner 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 Ashburn
When does frost risk typically end in Ashburn?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ashburn typically lands around Feb 13, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Ashburn?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ashburn 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 295 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ashburn?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ashburn sees about 295 frost-free days — roughly Feb 13 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 6 to Nov 21, about 260 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ashburn?
The federal record around Ashburn is a meaningful one — 111 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (69), 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 Ashburn?
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 Ashburn's scale — its 9a band and its 295-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ashburn'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 Ashburn’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ashburn's own scale — the 3,037 acres it covers and 111 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ashburn's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 111 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ashburn, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ashburn's boundary and the 3,037 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~295-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ashburn's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ashburn has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Turner County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ashburn's 3,037 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Turner County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Turner 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 Turner County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ashburn's 3,037 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ashburn you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,037 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 Ashburn-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Wider growing context
What grows across GeorgiaAshburn sits outside our named growing regions, so Georgia as a whole is its closest context here.