Oliver, 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 Oliver, 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 Oliver 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 Oliver — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Oliver — the short answer
Oliver, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 595 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Screven County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Screven County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- Screven County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 595 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 Screven County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Oliver's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oliver's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oliver
Each reading below is measured for Oliver itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOliver runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from Screven County, the closest normal to Oliver) — 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
MeasuredOliver 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 Oliver is in
Oliver sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Oliver's own centroid rather than borrowed from Screven County.
What Grows in Oliver
Every plant below cleared Oliver's own zone 9a and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oliver?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Oliver
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oliver. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 33U019Nitrate · 1000 ft
- BROWER GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- GRAHAMS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- CLARK & SONS GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- BP GAS & CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- NEWINGTON TELEPHONE EXCHANGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- PLANTERS RURAL TELEPHONE COOPERAUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- 33U009Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- WOODS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- AT&TUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- BOBS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- TIMESAVER #77Underground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oliver'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 Oliver.
Total Sites
30
within ~10 miles of Oliver
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oliver
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oliver
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oliver, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Oliver — Underground Storage Tanks (20 sites) and Nitrate (8 sites). 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Oliver
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 Oliver average
Your land is one point inside Oliver
Everything above resolves to Oliver as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 595 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Screven 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 Oliver Average
Oliver Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Oliver
- ●One soil character for all of Oliver
- ●Frost dates read at Oliver's scale: Feb 23 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oliver's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oliver
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oliver, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oliver averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oliver — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oliver average
How we know this about Oliver
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 Screven 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 Oliver
When does frost risk typically end in Oliver?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oliver typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Oliver?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oliver typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oliver?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oliver sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 18, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oliver?
The federal record around Oliver is light — 30 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (20), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Oliver?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Oliver's scale — its 9a band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oliver'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 Oliver’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Oliver's own scale — the 595 acres it covers and 30 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oliver's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 30 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oliver, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oliver's boundary and the 595 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oliver's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Oliver has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Screven County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oliver's 595 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Screven County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Screven 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 Screven County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oliver's 595 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oliver you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 595 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Oliver-wide figureread your own land →
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