Climax, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Climax, 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 Climax 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 Climax — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Climax — the short answer
Climax, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 514 acres of city.
- 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
- City area
- 514 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 Climax's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Climax's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Climax
Each reading below is measured for Climax itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsClimax runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Decatur County, the closest normal to Climax) — 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
MeasuredClimax 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 Climax is in
Climax sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Climax's own centroid rather than borrowed from Decatur County.
What Grows in Climax
Every plant below cleared Climax'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 Climax?
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 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. 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 Climax
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Climax. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- S&C GROCERY & HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- QUICK BUYS #116Underground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- CLIMAX ELEM SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- FORMER HURST GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- DEVANE MOOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SODREL TRANSPORT LLCBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- D RAIL TRANSPORT LLCBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- 11F085Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- 09F001Nitrate · 5.3 mi
- WHIGHAM ELEM SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- WHIGHAM BAY STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- ADAMS BROTHERS CONSTRUCTION COUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Climax'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 Climax.
Total Sites
158
within ~10 miles of Climax
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Climax
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Climax
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Climax, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 116 sites within ~10 miles of Climax. 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 Climax
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 Climax average
Your land is one point inside Climax
Everything above resolves to Climax as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 514 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Decatur 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 Climax Average
Climax Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Climax
- ●One soil character for all of Climax
- ●Frost dates read at Climax's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Climax's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Climax
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Climax, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Climax averages can't show:
We read public map data around Climax — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Climax average
How we know this about Climax
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 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 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 Climax
When does frost risk typically end in Climax?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Climax 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 Climax?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Climax 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 Climax?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Climax 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 Climax?
The federal record around Climax is a meaningful one — 158 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (116), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Climax?
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 Climax's scale — its 9a band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Climax'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 Climax’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Climax's own scale — the 514 acres it covers and 158 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Climax's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 158 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Climax, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Climax's boundary and the 514 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 Climax's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Climax 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 Climax's 514 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 Climax's 514 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Climax you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 514 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 Climax-wide figureread your own land →
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