Canon, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Canon, 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 Canon 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 Canon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Canon — the short answer
Canon, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 254 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 13
- Franklin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Franklin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~254
- Franklin 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 Franklin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Canon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Canon's 254-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Canon
Each reading below is measured for Canon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCanon runs about 254 days between hard freezes (read from Franklin County, the closest normal to Canon) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredCanon 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 Canon is in
Canon sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Canon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Franklin County.
What Grows in Canon
Every plant below cleared Canon's own zone 8b and its 254-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Canon?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Canon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Canon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BIG GUN BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- EDWARD JORDANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- SMILE MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- BOAZ CARPETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- CLAYTOP GROCERY/NURSING HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- BOWERSVILLE MASONIC LODGE #595Underground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- MOONS GROCERY & BEAUTY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- WALTER BROWN/L S CHEEKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- SAMS SPORT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- 21JJ01Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- T J'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- CITGOUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Canon'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 Canon.
Total Sites
193
within ~10 miles of Canon
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Canon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Canon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Canon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Canon — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (152 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Canon
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 Canon average
Your land is one point inside Canon
Everything above resolves to Canon as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Franklin 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 Canon Average
Canon Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Canon
- ●One soil character for all of Canon
- ●Frost dates read at Canon's scale: Mar 13 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Canon's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Canon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Canon, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Canon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Canon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Canon average
How we know this about Canon
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 Franklin 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 Canon
When does frost risk typically end in Canon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Canon typically lands around Mar 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 Apr 3.
When is the first frost in Canon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Canon typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 254 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Canon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Canon sees about 254 frost-free days — roughly Mar 13 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 3 to Nov 8, about 219 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Canon?
The federal record around Canon shows 193 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (152), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Canon?
From about Oct 23 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 Nov 22 (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 Nov 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Canon's scale — its 8b band and its 254-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Canon'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 Canon’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Canon's own scale — the 1,997 acres it covers and 193 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Canon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 193 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Canon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Canon's boundary and the 1,997 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~254-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Canon's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Canon has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Franklin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Canon's 1,997 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Franklin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Franklin 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 Franklin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Canon's 1,997 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Canon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,997 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Canon-wide figureread your own land →
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