Ocilla, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ocilla, 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 Ocilla 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 Ocilla — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ocilla — the short answer
Ocilla, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Irwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Irwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- Irwin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Irwin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Ocilla's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ocilla's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ocilla
Each reading below is measured for Ocilla itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOcilla runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from Irwin County, the closest normal to Ocilla) — 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
MeasuredOcilla 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 Ocilla is in
Ocilla sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ocilla's own centroid rather than borrowed from Irwin County.
What Grows in Ocilla
Every plant below cleared Ocilla's own zone 9a and its 298-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ocilla?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Ocilla
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ocilla. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CROWN/FAST FATE GA-541\ZIPPY MARUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- CITY OF OCILLAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- 20L003Nitrate · 1400 ft
- TANKERSLEY OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- LAX EXCHANGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- GA FCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- OCILLA QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- IRWIN COUNTY HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- IRWIN CO MIDDLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- G&G FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- THOMAS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- F&S SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ocilla'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 Ocilla.
Total Sites
142
within ~10 miles of Ocilla
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
13 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ocilla
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ocilla
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ocilla, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ocilla — Toxics Release Inventory (13 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (100 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Ocilla
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 Ocilla average
Your land is one point inside Ocilla
Everything above resolves to Ocilla as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Irwin 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 Ocilla Average
Ocilla Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Ocilla
- ●One soil character for all of Ocilla
- ●Frost dates read at Ocilla's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ocilla's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ocilla
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ocilla, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ocilla averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ocilla — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ocilla average
How we know this about Ocilla
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 Irwin 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 Ocilla
When does frost risk typically end in Ocilla?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ocilla typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Ocilla?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ocilla typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ocilla?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ocilla sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 22, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ocilla?
The federal record around Ocilla shows 142 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (100), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Ocilla?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ocilla's scale — its 9a band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ocilla'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 Ocilla’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ocilla's own scale — the 1,629 acres it covers and 142 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ocilla's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 142 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ocilla, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ocilla's boundary and the 1,629 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ocilla's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ocilla has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Irwin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ocilla's 1,629 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Irwin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Irwin 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 Irwin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ocilla's 1,629 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ocilla you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,629 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 Ocilla-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Wider growing context
What grows across GeorgiaOcilla sits outside our named growing regions, so Georgia as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides