Collins, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Collins, 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 Collins 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 Collins — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Collins — the short answer
Collins, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 653 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Tattnall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Tattnall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Tattnall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 653 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 Tattnall County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Collins's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Collins's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Collins
Each reading below is measured for Collins itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCollins runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Tattnall County, the closest normal to Collins) — 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
MeasuredCollins 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 Collins is in
Collins sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Collins's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tattnall County.
What Grows in Collins
Every plant below cleared Collins'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 Collins?
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 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (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. 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 Collins
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Collins. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SANT LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- ALLTELUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- CHARLIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- COLLINS JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CANOOCHEE ELECTRIC MEMBERSHIP COUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- C&C FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- MCI/REIDSVILLE JUNCTION #546Underground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- SPIKES EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- FLASH FOODSUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- REIDSVILLE BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- COWARTS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- 5 POINTS GROCERIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Collins'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 Collins.
Total Sites
74
within ~10 miles of Collins
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Collins
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Collins
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Collins, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 60 sites within ~10 miles of Collins. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Collins
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 Collins average
Your land is one point inside Collins
Everything above resolves to Collins as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 653 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tattnall 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 Collins Average
Collins Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Collins
- ●One soil character for all of Collins
- ●Frost dates read at Collins's scale: Feb 15 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Collins's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Collins
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Collins, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Collins averages can't show:
We read public map data around Collins — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Collins average
How we know this about Collins
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 Tattnall 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 Collins
When does frost risk typically end in Collins?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Collins typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Collins?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Collins 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 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Collins?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Collins sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 21, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Collins?
The federal record around Collins shows 74 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (60), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Collins?
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 Collins's scale — its 9a band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Collins'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 Collins’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Collins's own scale — the 653 acres it covers and 74 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Collins's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 74 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Collins, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Collins's boundary and the 653 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 Collins's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Collins has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tattnall County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Collins's 653 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tattnall County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tattnall 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 Tattnall County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Collins's 653 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Collins you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 653 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 Collins-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Growing region
Nearby growing guides