Riceboro, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Riceboro, 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 Riceboro 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 Riceboro — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Riceboro — the short answer
Riceboro, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 290 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 19
- Liberty County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Liberty County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~290
- Liberty County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Liberty County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Riceboro's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Riceboro's 290-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Riceboro
Each reading below is measured for Riceboro itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRiceboro runs about 290 days between hard freezes (read from Liberty County, the closest normal to Riceboro) — 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
MeasuredRiceboro 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 Riceboro is in
Riceboro sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Riceboro's own centroid rather than borrowed from Liberty County.
What Grows in Riceboro
Every plant below cleared Riceboro'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 Riceboro?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 19 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Riceboro
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Riceboro. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 34M048Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- SPARKER #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- BRUCES AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- 34M054Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- BAC PRODUCTS INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.4 mi
- CHEMTALL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- SNF RICEBORO PLANTBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- SNF RICEBORO PLANTSuperfund · 1.5 mi
- SNF RICEBORO PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1.5 mi
- RICEBORO STOP & SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- FRASIER & SONS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- 34M019Nitrate · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Riceboro'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 Riceboro.
Total Sites
92
within ~10 miles of Riceboro
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Riceboro
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Riceboro
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Riceboro, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Riceboro — Superfund (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (11 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Riceboro
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 Riceboro average
Your land is one point inside Riceboro
Everything above resolves to Riceboro as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Liberty 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 Riceboro Average
Riceboro Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Riceboro
- ●One soil character for all of Riceboro
- ●Frost dates read at Riceboro's scale: Feb 19 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Riceboro's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Riceboro
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Riceboro, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Riceboro averages can't show:
We read public map data around Riceboro — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Riceboro average
How we know this about Riceboro
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 Liberty 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 Riceboro
When does frost risk typically end in Riceboro?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Riceboro typically lands around Feb 19, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Riceboro?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Riceboro 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 290 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Riceboro?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Riceboro sees about 290 frost-free days — roughly Feb 19 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 12 to Nov 22, about 255 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Riceboro?
The federal record around Riceboro is a meaningful one — 92 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (54), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.0 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 Riceboro?
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 Riceboro's scale — its 9a band and its 290-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Riceboro'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 Riceboro’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Riceboro's own scale — the 7,116 acres it covers and 92 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Riceboro's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 92 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Riceboro, the closest Nitrate record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Riceboro's boundary and the 7,116 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 Riceboro's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Riceboro has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Liberty County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Riceboro's 7,116 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Liberty County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Liberty 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 Liberty County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Riceboro's 7,116 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Riceboro you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,116 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.0 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 Riceboro-wide figureread your own land →
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