Darien, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Darien, 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 Darien 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 Darien — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Darien — the short answer
Darien, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 300 days between hard freezes, across 14K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- McIntosh County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- McIntosh County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~300
- McIntosh County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 14K 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 McIntosh County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Darien's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Darien's 300-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Darien
Each reading below is measured for Darien itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDarien runs about 300 days between hard freezes (read from McIntosh County, the closest normal to Darien) — 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
MeasuredDarien 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 Darien is in
Darien sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Darien's own centroid rather than borrowed from McIntosh County.
What Grows in Darien
Every plant below cleared Darien's own zone 9a and its 300-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Darien?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Darien
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Darien. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 34J028Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- FRIENDLY EXPRESS #74Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- 34J043Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- FORMER DRY CLEANERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- FRIENDLY EXPRESS #32Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- FRIENDLY EXPRESS #28Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- CITY OF DARIENUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- OLD GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- MCINTOSH COUNTY BOARD OF EDBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- MCINTOSH COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATIUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- THE DARIEN TELEPHONE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- 1121 US HIGHWAY 17Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Darien'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 Darien.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Darien
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Darien
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Darien, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 116 sites within ~10 miles of Darien. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Darien
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 Darien average
Your land is one point inside Darien
Everything above resolves to Darien as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 14K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from McIntosh 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 Darien Average
Darien Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Darien
- ●One soil character for all of Darien
- ●Frost dates read at Darien's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Darien's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Darien
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Darien, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Darien averages can't show:
We read public map data around Darien — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Darien average
How we know this about Darien
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 McIntosh 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 Darien
When does frost risk typically end in Darien?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Darien 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 Darien?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Darien typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 300 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Darien?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Darien sees about 300 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 27, about 265 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Darien?
The federal record around Darien is a meaningful one — 258 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (116), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.5 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 Darien?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Darien's scale — its 9a band and its 300-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Darien'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 Darien’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Darien's own scale — the 13,546 acres it covers and 258 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Darien's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 258 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Darien, the closest Nitrate record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Darien's boundary and the 13,546 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~300-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Darien's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Darien has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom McIntosh County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Darien's 13,546 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McIntosh County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McIntosh 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 McIntosh County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Darien's 13,546 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Darien you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,546 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.5 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 Darien-wide figureread your own land →
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