Dudley, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Dudley, 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 Dudley 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 Dudley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dudley — the short answer
Dudley, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 281 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Laurens County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Laurens County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~281
- Laurens 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 Laurens County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Dudley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dudley's 281-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dudley
Each reading below is measured for Dudley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDudley runs about 281 days between hard freezes (read from Laurens County, the closest normal to Dudley) — 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
MeasuredDudley 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 Dudley is in
Dudley sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Dudley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Laurens County.
What Grows in Dudley
Every plant below cleared Dudley's own zone 8b and its 281-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dudley?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — 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 Dudley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dudley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- W H DAVIS STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- GILMAN BUILDING PROUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- OCONEE ELECTRIC MEMBERSHIP CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- DOUG'S CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- DUDLEY MARKET LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- WEST FRASER DUDLEY SAWMILLToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- CAMSCO PRODUCE COMPANY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- 21U004Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #1189Brownfields · 4.3 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #555Brownfields · 4.3 mi
- 80 WEST PUMP N PANTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- FORMER W F COOK MERCANTILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dudley'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 Dudley.
Total Sites
126
within ~10 miles of Dudley
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dudley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dudley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dudley, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Dudley — Toxics Release Inventory (10 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (87 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Dudley
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 Dudley average
Your land is one point inside Dudley
Everything above resolves to Dudley as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Laurens 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 Dudley Average
Dudley Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Dudley
- ●One soil character for all of Dudley
- ●Frost dates read at Dudley's scale: Feb 23 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dudley's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dudley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dudley, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dudley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dudley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dudley average
How we know this about Dudley
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 Laurens 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 Dudley
When does frost risk typically end in Dudley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dudley typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Dudley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dudley typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 281 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dudley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dudley sees about 281 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 17, about 246 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dudley?
The federal record around Dudley shows 126 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (87), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles 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 Dudley?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dudley's scale — its 8b band and its 281-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dudley'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 Dudley’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Dudley's own scale — the 2,181 acres it covers and 126 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dudley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 126 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dudley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dudley's boundary and the 2,181 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~281-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dudley's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Dudley has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Laurens County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dudley's 2,181 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Laurens County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Laurens 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 Laurens County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dudley's 2,181 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dudley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,181 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Dudley-wide figureread your own land →
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