Jesup, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Jesup, 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 Jesup 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 Jesup — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Jesup — the short answer
Jesup, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Wayne County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Wayne County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Wayne County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 11K 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 Wayne County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Jesup's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jesup's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Jesup
Each reading below is measured for Jesup itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsJesup runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Wayne County, the closest normal to Jesup) — 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
MeasuredJesup 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 Jesup is in
Jesup sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Jesup's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wayne County.
What Grows in Jesup
Every plant below cleared Jesup's own zone 9a and its 287-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Jesup?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — 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 Jesup
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Jesup. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CONNER BROTHERS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 2400 ft
- WAYNE MEMORIAL HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WAYNE MEMORIAL FREE STANDING INFUSION CENTERBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- ROBERT A PUMPELLY IV MD INTERNAL MEDICINEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- BST/JESPGASC R4217Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- OUT OF BUSINESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- WAWA #6307Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- KELLYS SVC/MIDTOWN EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- JESUP DISCOUNT CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FRIENDLY EXPRESS #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- WALGREENS 11792Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- NWC OF S FIRST ST & W CHERRY STUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jesup'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 Jesup.
Total Sites
150
within ~10 miles of Jesup
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Jesup
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Jesup
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jesup, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 102 sites within ~10 miles of Jesup. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Jesup
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 Jesup average
Your land is one point inside Jesup
Everything above resolves to Jesup as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 11K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Wayne 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 Jesup Average
Jesup Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Jesup
- ●One soil character for all of Jesup
- ●Frost dates read at Jesup's scale: Feb 20 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jesup's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Jesup
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jesup, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jesup averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jesup — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jesup average
How we know this about Jesup
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 Wayne 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 Jesup
When does frost risk typically end in Jesup?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jesup typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Jesup?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Jesup typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Jesup?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jesup sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 20, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jesup?
The federal record around Jesup shows 150 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (102), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.5 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 Jesup?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Jesup's scale — its 9a band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jesup'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 Jesup’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Jesup's own scale — the 10,589 acres it covers and 150 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jesup's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 150 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Jesup, the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Jesup's boundary and the 10,589 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~287-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Jesup's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Jesup has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Wayne County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Jesup's 10,589 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wayne County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wayne 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 Wayne County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jesup's 10,589 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Jesup you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,589 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Jesup-wide figureread your own land →
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