Cordele, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cordele, 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 Cordele 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 Cordele — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cordele — the short answer
Cordele, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Crisp County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Crisp County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Crisp County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Crisp County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Cordele's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cordele's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cordele
Each reading below is measured for Cordele itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCordele runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Crisp County, the closest normal to Cordele) — 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
MeasuredCordele 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 Cordele is in
Cordele sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cordele's own centroid rather than borrowed from Crisp County.
What Grows in Cordele
Every plant below cleared Cordele's own zone 8b and its 293-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cordele?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Cordele
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cordele. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JAMES RIVERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- 15P001Nitrate · 2000 ft
- CORDELE FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- FLINT RIVER FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- HARVEYS STORE #1627Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- WALGREENS 9849Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- SINDHU FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PETRO SOUTHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #1006Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- GREEN PANTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- EZ STOP FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- COLLISION CLINIC, INC.Brownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cordele'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 Cordele.
Total Sites
255
within ~10 miles of Cordele
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cordele
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cordele
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cordele, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Cordele — Toxics Release Inventory (25 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (163 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Cordele
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 Cordele average
Your land is one point inside Cordele
Everything above resolves to Cordele as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Crisp 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 Cordele Average
Cordele Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Cordele
- ●One soil character for all of Cordele
- ●Frost dates read at Cordele's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cordele's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cordele
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cordele, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cordele averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cordele — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cordele average
How we know this about Cordele
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 Crisp 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 Cordele
When does frost risk typically end in Cordele?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cordele typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Cordele?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cordele typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cordele?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cordele sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 20, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cordele?
The federal record around Cordele is a meaningful one — 255 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (163), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Cordele?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cordele's scale — its 8b band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cordele'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 Cordele’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cordele's own scale — the 6,677 acres it covers and 255 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cordele's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 255 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cordele, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cordele's boundary and the 6,677 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~293-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cordele's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cordele has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Crisp County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cordele's 6,677 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Crisp County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Crisp 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 Crisp County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cordele's 6,677 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cordele you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,677 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 Cordele-wide figureread your own land →
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