Pearson, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Pearson, 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 Pearson 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 Pearson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Pearson — the short answer
Pearson, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Atkinson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Atkinson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- Atkinson 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 Atkinson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Pearson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pearson's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pearson
Each reading below is measured for Pearson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPearson runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from Atkinson County, the closest normal to Pearson) — 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
MeasuredPearson 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 Pearson is in
Pearson sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Pearson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Atkinson County.
What Grows in Pearson
Every plant below cleared Pearson's own zone 9a and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pearson?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Pearson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pearson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FLEETWOOD HOMES #34Toxics Release Inventory · 150 ft
- FLASH FOODS #49Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- ATKINSON COUNTY SCHOOL BUS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- ADENS MINIT MARKET #66Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- FLEETWOOD HOMES OF GEORGIA INC 35-2Toxics Release Inventory · 850 ft
- CITY OF PEARSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- AT&T PEARSON RADIO RELAY STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #1766Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- GA FORESTRY COMMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ATKINSON COUNTY ROAD DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 441 GULF-MCGOVERN'S BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MATHEWS SERVICE STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pearson'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 Pearson.
Total Sites
35
within ~10 miles of Pearson
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pearson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pearson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pearson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Pearson — Toxics Release Inventory (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (26 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Pearson
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 Pearson average
Your land is one point inside Pearson
Everything above resolves to Pearson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Atkinson 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 Pearson Average
Pearson Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Pearson
- ●One soil character for all of Pearson
- ●Frost dates read at Pearson's scale: Feb 15 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pearson's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pearson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pearson, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pearson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pearson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pearson average
How we know this about Pearson
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 Atkinson 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 Pearson
When does frost risk typically end in Pearson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pearson typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Pearson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pearson typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pearson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pearson sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 19, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pearson?
The federal record around Pearson is light — 35 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (26), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record under a tenth of a mile 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 Pearson?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pearson's scale — its 9a band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pearson'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 Pearson’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Pearson's own scale — the 2,146 acres it covers and 35 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pearson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 35 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pearson, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pearson's boundary and the 2,146 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pearson's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pearson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Atkinson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pearson's 2,146 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Atkinson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Atkinson 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 Atkinson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pearson's 2,146 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pearson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,146 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Pearson-wide figureread your own land →
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