Oak Park, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Oak Park, 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 Oak Park 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 Oak Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oak Park — the short answer
Oak Park, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 290 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Emanuel County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Emanuel County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~290
- Emanuel County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Emanuel County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Oak Park's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oak Park's 290-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oak Park
Each reading below is measured for Oak Park itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOak Park runs about 290 days between hard freezes (read from Emanuel County, the closest normal to Oak Park) — 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
MeasuredOak Park 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 Oak Park is in
Oak Park sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Oak Park's own centroid rather than borrowed from Emanuel County.
What Grows in Oak Park
Every plant below cleared Oak Park's own zone 9a and its 290-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oak Park?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Oak Park
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oak Park. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PARITA PATELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Town & Country Store LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- RAM KEPAR TRADING LLC ZIPINUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- RED ROOF EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- TIMESAVER #103Underground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- M J CANNADYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- PATS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- 27S001Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- NORMAN TOWN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- AARON GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- GA DOT SIGN SHOP #10539Underground Storage Tanks · 7.2 mi
- JANI'S MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oak Park'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 Oak Park.
Total Sites
38
within ~10 miles of Oak Park
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oak Park
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oak Park
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oak Park, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 29 sites within ~10 miles of Oak Park. 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 Oak Park
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 Oak Park average
Your land is one point inside Oak Park
Everything above resolves to Oak Park as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Emanuel County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Oak Park Average
Oak Park Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Oak Park
- ●One soil character for all of Oak Park
- ●Frost dates read at Oak Park's scale: Feb 20 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oak Park's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oak Park
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oak Park, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oak Park averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oak Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oak Park average
How we know this about Oak Park
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Emanuel 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Oak Park
When does frost risk typically end in Oak Park?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Park 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 Oak Park?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Park typically arrives around Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 23, so the watching starts about Nov 7 — about 290 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oak Park?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oak Park sees about 290 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 23, about 255 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oak Park?
The federal record around Oak Park is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (29), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Oak Park?
From about Nov 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Oak Park's scale — its 9a band and its 290-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oak Park'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 Oak Park’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Oak Park's own scale — the 4,523 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oak Park's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oak Park, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oak Park's boundary and the 4,523 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~290-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oak Park's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Oak Park has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Emanuel County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oak Park's 4,523 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Emanuel County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Emanuel 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 Emanuel County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oak Park's 4,523 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oak Park you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,523 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Oak Park-wide figureread your own land →
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