Dawson, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Dawson, 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 Dawson 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 Dawson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Dawson — the short answer
Dawson, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 19
- Terrell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Terrell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Terrell 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 Terrell County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Dawson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dawson's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dawson
Each reading below is measured for Dawson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDawson runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Terrell County, the closest normal to Dawson) — 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
MeasuredDawson 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 Dawson is in
Dawson sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Dawson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Terrell County.
What Grows in Dawson
Every plant below cleared Dawson's own zone 8b and its 287-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dawson?
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 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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 Dawson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dawson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- W J MARTIN FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- MARMELO FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LAING IMPLEMENT COUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- C E SCOTTUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- DAWSON BP SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- BVM INC DAWSON PEDDLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CITGO FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- TERRELL COUNTY EMERGENCYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- TERRELL DISCOUNT SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- DIXIE SERVICE STATION #463Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- HIGHBAUGH HARDWARE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CIRCLE ENVIRONMENTAL #1Superfund · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dawson'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 Dawson.
Total Sites
89
within ~10 miles of Dawson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dawson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dawson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dawson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Dawson — Toxics Release Inventory (6 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (59 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Dawson
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 Dawson average
Your land is one point inside Dawson
Everything above resolves to Dawson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Terrell 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 Dawson Average
Dawson Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Dawson
- ●One soil character for all of Dawson
- ●Frost dates read at Dawson's scale: Feb 19 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dawson's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dawson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dawson, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dawson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dawson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dawson average
How we know this about Dawson
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 Terrell 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 Dawson
When does frost risk typically end in Dawson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dawson typically lands around Feb 19, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Dawson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dawson typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dawson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dawson sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 19 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 12 to Nov 19, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dawson?
The federal record around Dawson is a meaningful one — 89 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (59), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Dawson?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dawson's scale — its 8b band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dawson'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 Dawson’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Dawson's own scale — the 2,401 acres it covers and 89 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dawson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 89 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dawson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dawson's boundary and the 2,401 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~287-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dawson's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Dawson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Terrell County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dawson's 2,401 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Terrell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Terrell 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 Terrell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dawson's 2,401 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dawson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,401 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Dawson-wide figureread your own land →
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