Flowery Branch, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Flowery Branch, 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 Flowery Branch 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 Flowery Branch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Flowery Branch — the short answer
Flowery Branch, Georgia: USDA zone 8a, about 265 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 8
- Hall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Hall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~265
- Hall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Hall County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Flowery Branch's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Flowery Branch's 265-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Flowery Branch
Each reading below is measured for Flowery Branch itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFlowery Branch runs about 265 days between hard freezes (read from Hall County, the closest normal to Flowery Branch) — 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
MeasuredFlowery Branch sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Flowery Branch is in
Flowery Branch sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Flowery Branch's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hall County.
What Grows in Flowery Branch
Every plant below cleared Flowery Branch's own zone 8a and its 265-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Flowery Branch?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — 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 Flowery Branch
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Flowery Branch. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HOG MOUNTAIN FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 59 FLOWERY BRANCH MARATHONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HOME DEPOT STORE #1856Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- SALLY BEAUTY SUPPLY #3789Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- TARGET STORE T2387Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- SPOUT SPRINGS SUPERETTEEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PUBLIX SUPERMARKET 844 VILLAGE SHOPS OF FLOWERY BRANCHBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- EXXON FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WALGREENS 12811Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- CITY OF FLOWERY BRANCH WATER POLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- RANZHA INC DBA BEST BUY QUALITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 14HH19Nitrate · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Flowery Branch'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 Flowery Branch.
Total Sites
640
within ~10 miles of Flowery Branch
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Flowery Branch
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Flowery Branch
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Flowery Branch, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Flowery Branch — Toxics Release Inventory (74 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (394 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 Flowery Branch
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 Flowery Branch average
Your land is one point inside Flowery Branch
Everything above resolves to Flowery Branch as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hall 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 Flowery Branch Average
Flowery Branch Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Flowery Branch
- ●One soil character for all of Flowery Branch
- ●Frost dates read at Flowery Branch's scale: Mar 8 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Flowery Branch's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Flowery Branch
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Flowery Branch, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Flowery Branch averages can't show:
We read public map data around Flowery Branch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Flowery Branch average
How we know this about Flowery Branch
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 Hall 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 Flowery Branch
When does frost risk typically end in Flowery Branch?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Flowery Branch typically lands around Mar 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Flowery Branch?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Flowery Branch typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 265 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Flowery Branch?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Flowery Branch sees about 265 frost-free days — roughly Mar 8 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 29 to Nov 14, about 230 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Flowery Branch?
The federal record around Flowery Branch is a meaningful one — 640 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (394), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Flowery Branch?
From about Oct 29 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 Nov 28 (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 Nov 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Flowery Branch's scale — its 8a band and its 265-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Flowery Branch'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 Flowery Branch’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Flowery Branch's own scale — the 4,667 acres it covers and 640 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Flowery Branch's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 640 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Flowery Branch, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Flowery Branch's boundary and the 4,667 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~265-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Flowery Branch's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Flowery Branch has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hall County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Flowery Branch's 4,667 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hall County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hall 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 Hall County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Flowery Branch's 4,667 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Flowery Branch you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,667 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Flowery Branch-wide figureread your own land →
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