Brinson, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Brinson, 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 Brinson 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 Brinson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Brinson — the short answer
Brinson, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- Decatur County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Decatur County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Decatur County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Decatur County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Brinson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brinson's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brinson
Each reading below is measured for Brinson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBrinson runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Decatur County, the closest normal to Brinson) — 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
MeasuredBrinson 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 Brinson is in
Brinson sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Brinson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Decatur County.
What Grows in Brinson
Every plant below cleared Brinson's own zone 9a and its 293-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brinson?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (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. 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 Brinson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brinson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BRINSON CORNER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- R G HEARD FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- ROADSIDE COLLECTIBLESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- COUNTRY BUMPKINUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- J & L CAR WASH & DETAILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- J & J GREENE FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- 08G002Nitrate · 3.1 mi
- SUNSHINE JR FOOD STORE #431Underground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- LAMAR BURKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- STOVER FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- CITY MOTOR CO INC DHA SHINGLER CUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- HARACO INLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brinson'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 Brinson.
Total Sites
174
within ~10 miles of Brinson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brinson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brinson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Brinson, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 12 sites within ~10 miles of Brinson. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Brinson
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 Brinson average
Your land is one point inside Brinson
Everything above resolves to Brinson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Decatur County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Brinson Average
Brinson Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Brinson
- ●One soil character for all of Brinson
- ●Frost dates read at Brinson's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brinson's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brinson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brinson, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brinson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brinson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brinson average
How we know this about Brinson
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Decatur 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Brinson
When does frost risk typically end in Brinson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brinson typically lands around Feb 12, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Brinson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brinson 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 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brinson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brinson sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 18, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brinson?
The federal record around Brinson is a meaningful one — 174 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (105), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Brinson?
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 Brinson's scale — its 9a band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brinson'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 Brinson’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Brinson's own scale — the 1,306 acres it covers and 174 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brinson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 174 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brinson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brinson's boundary and the 1,306 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~293-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Brinson's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Brinson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Decatur County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Brinson's 1,306 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Decatur County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Decatur 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 Decatur County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brinson's 1,306 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brinson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,306 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Brinson-wide figureread your own land →