Forsyth, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Forsyth, 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 Forsyth 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 Forsyth — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Forsyth — the short answer
Forsyth, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 4
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~266
- Monroe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Monroe County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Forsyth's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Forsyth's 266-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Forsyth
Each reading below is measured for Forsyth itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsForsyth runs about 266 days between hard freezes (read from Monroe County, the closest normal to Forsyth) — 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
MeasuredForsyth 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 Forsyth is in
Forsyth sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Forsyth's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monroe County.
What Grows in Forsyth
Every plant below cleared Forsyth's own zone 8b and its 266-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Forsyth?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — 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 Forsyth
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Forsyth. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FORSYTH QUICK SPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- WALMART SUPERCENTER 907Brownfields · 1200 ft
- SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CIRCLE K 6718Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- EXPRESS FOODS #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- R C EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- FORSYTHPFAS · 1500 ft
- PASSPORT INNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- CIRCLE K #2984/MR B'S #94Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- CHEVRON #40457Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- OLD GOODEN BP/GOODEN GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GPS ForsythUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Forsyth'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 Forsyth.
Total Sites
100
within ~10 miles of Forsyth
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Forsyth
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Forsyth
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Forsyth, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Forsyth — Superfund (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (76 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Forsyth
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 Forsyth average
Your land is one point inside Forsyth
Everything above resolves to Forsyth as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Monroe 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 Forsyth Average
Forsyth Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Forsyth
- ●One soil character for all of Forsyth
- ●Frost dates read at Forsyth's scale: Mar 4 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Forsyth's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Forsyth
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Forsyth, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Forsyth averages can't show:
We read public map data around Forsyth — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Forsyth average
How we know this about Forsyth
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 Monroe 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 Forsyth
When does frost risk typically end in Forsyth?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Forsyth typically lands around Mar 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Forsyth?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Forsyth typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 266 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Forsyth?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Forsyth sees about 266 frost-free days — roughly Mar 4 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 25 to Nov 11, about 231 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Forsyth?
The federal record around Forsyth is a meaningful one — 100 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (76), 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 Forsyth?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Forsyth's scale — its 8b band and its 266-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Forsyth'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 Forsyth’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Forsyth's own scale — the 5,767 acres it covers and 100 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Forsyth's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 100 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Forsyth, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Forsyth's boundary and the 5,767 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~266-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Forsyth's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Forsyth has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Monroe County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Forsyth's 5,767 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monroe County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Monroe 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 Monroe County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Forsyth's 5,767 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Forsyth you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,767 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 Forsyth-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Growing region
Nearby growing guides