Richland, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Richland, 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 Richland 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 Richland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Richland — the short answer
Richland, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 270 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 1
- Stewart County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Stewart County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~270
- Stewart 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 Stewart County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Richland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Richland's 270-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Richland
Each reading below is measured for Richland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRichland runs about 270 days between hard freezes (read from Stewart County, the closest normal to Richland) — 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
MeasuredRichland sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Richland is in
Richland sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Richland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Stewart County.
What Grows in Richland
Every plant below cleared Richland's own zone 8b and its 270-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Richland?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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 Richland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Richland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GLORIA B MURRAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- AT&T KIMBROUGH RADIO RELAY STATIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- TERRY SPORT CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- C C MOOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- TERRY'S SPORT CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- 08Q001Nitrate · 2600 ft
- WOODY SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SASSER CHEVRON SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- REDS PIZZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RICHLAND SVC STATION/MATHIS SERVUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RICHLAND POLICE DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- M-MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Richland'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 Richland.
Total Sites
59
within ~10 miles of Richland
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Richland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Richland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Richland, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 46 sites within ~10 miles of Richland. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Richland
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 Richland average
Your land is one point inside Richland
Everything above resolves to Richland as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Stewart 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 Richland Average
Richland Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Richland
- ●One soil character for all of Richland
- ●Frost dates read at Richland's scale: Mar 1 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Richland's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Richland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Richland, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Richland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Richland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Richland average
How we know this about Richland
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 Stewart 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 Richland
When does frost risk typically end in Richland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Richland typically lands around Mar 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Richland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Richland typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 270 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Richland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Richland sees about 270 frost-free days — roughly Mar 1 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 22 to Nov 12, about 235 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Richland?
The federal record around Richland shows 59 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (46), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Richland?
From about Oct 27 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 Nov 26 (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 Nov 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Richland's scale — its 8b band and its 270-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Richland'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 Richland’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Richland's own scale — the 2,048 acres it covers and 59 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Richland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 59 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Richland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Richland's boundary and the 2,048 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~270-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Richland's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Richland has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Stewart County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Richland's 2,048 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Stewart County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Stewart 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 Stewart County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Richland's 2,048 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Richland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,048 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Richland-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Wider growing context
What grows across GeorgiaRichland sits outside our named growing regions, so Georgia as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides