Lumber City, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lumber City, 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 Lumber City 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 Lumber City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lumber City — the short answer
Lumber City, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Telfair County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Telfair County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- Telfair County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Telfair County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lumber City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lumber City's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lumber City
Each reading below is measured for Lumber City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLumber City runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from Telfair County, the closest normal to Lumber City) — 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
MeasuredLumber City 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 Lumber City is in
Lumber City sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lumber City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Telfair County.
What Grows in Lumber City
Every plant below cleared Lumber City's own zone 8b and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lumber City?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Lumber City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lumber City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LIVINGSTON'S IGAUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- COUNTRY CORNER # 221Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- CITY OF LUMBER CITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- HUGH HARRIS ESTATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- 24P006Nitrate · 1200 ft
- CHAMPION INTERNATIONALUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- LUMBER CITY EGG MARKETERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- FLASH FOODS #154Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HWY 19 NORTHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HOLLIE TRADING POSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- 24P007Nitrate · 2500 ft
- AMERCORD INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lumber City'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 Lumber City.
Total Sites
132
within ~10 miles of Lumber City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lumber City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lumber City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lumber City, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 104 sites within ~10 miles of Lumber City. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Lumber City
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 Lumber City average
Your land is one point inside Lumber City
Everything above resolves to Lumber City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Telfair 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 Lumber City Average
Lumber City Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lumber City
- ●One soil character for all of Lumber City
- ●Frost dates read at Lumber City's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lumber City's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lumber City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lumber City, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lumber City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lumber City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lumber City average
How we know this about Lumber City
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 Telfair 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 Lumber City
When does frost risk typically end in Lumber City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lumber City typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Lumber City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lumber City 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 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lumber City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lumber City sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 20, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lumber City?
The federal record around Lumber City is a meaningful one — 132 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (104), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Lumber City?
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 Lumber City's scale — its 8b band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lumber City'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 Lumber City’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lumber City's own scale — the 1,233 acres it covers and 132 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lumber City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 132 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lumber City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lumber City's boundary and the 1,233 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lumber City's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lumber City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Telfair County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lumber City's 1,233 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Telfair County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Telfair 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 Telfair County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lumber City's 1,233 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lumber City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,233 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Lumber City-wide figureread your own land →
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