Lexington, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Lexington, 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 Lexington 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 Lexington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lexington — the short answer
Lexington, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 259 days between hard freezes, across 351 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 9
- Oglethorpe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Oglethorpe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~259
- Oglethorpe County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 351 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 Oglethorpe County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lexington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lexington's 259-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lexington
Each reading below is measured for Lexington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLexington runs about 259 days between hard freezes (read from Oglethorpe County, the closest normal to Lexington) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLexington 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 Lexington is in
Lexington sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lexington's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oglethorpe County.
What Grows in Lexington
Every plant below cleared Lexington's own zone 8b and its 259-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lexington?
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 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Lexington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lexington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TURNER SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- OGLETHORPE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCAUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- CITIZENS BANKING COUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- LEXINGTONToxics Release Inventory · 900 ft
- BUDS SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- ACREE OIL CO DBA ATHENS OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- GOLDEN PANTRY #35Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- DOYLE HOLMESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MINIT SAVE #12Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 21EE01Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- OGLETHORPE COUNTY BUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- WALLACE GRAHAM CONST COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lexington'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 Lexington.
Total Sites
54
within ~10 miles of Lexington
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lexington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lexington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lexington, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 43 sites within ~10 miles of Lexington. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Lexington
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 Lexington average
Your land is one point inside Lexington
Everything above resolves to Lexington as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 351 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Oglethorpe 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 Lexington Average
Lexington Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lexington
- ●One soil character for all of Lexington
- ●Frost dates read at Lexington's scale: Mar 9 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lexington's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lexington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lexington, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lexington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lexington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lexington average
How we know this about Lexington
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 Oglethorpe 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 Lexington
When does frost risk typically end in Lexington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lexington typically lands around Mar 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Lexington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lexington typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 259 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lexington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lexington sees about 259 frost-free days — roughly Mar 9 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 30 to Nov 9, about 224 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lexington?
The federal record around Lexington is a meaningful one — 54 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (43), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Lexington?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lexington's scale — its 8b band and its 259-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lexington'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 Lexington’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lexington's own scale — the 351 acres it covers and 54 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lexington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 54 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lexington, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lexington's boundary and the 351 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~259-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lexington's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lexington has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Oglethorpe County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lexington's 351 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oglethorpe County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oglethorpe 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 Oglethorpe County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lexington's 351 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lexington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 351 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Lexington-wide figureread your own land →
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