Rincon, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Rincon, 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 Rincon 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 Rincon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rincon — the short answer
Rincon, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 299 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Effingham County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Effingham County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~299
- Effingham County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Effingham County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Rincon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rincon's 299-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rincon
Each reading below is measured for Rincon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRincon runs about 299 days between hard freezes (read from Effingham County, the closest normal to Rincon) — 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
MeasuredRincon 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 Rincon is in
Rincon sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rincon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Effingham County.
What Grows in Rincon
Every plant below cleared Rincon's own zone 9a and its 299-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rincon?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Rincon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rincon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RINCON TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- EFFINGHAM PAINT & BODYUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- 21 FUEL STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- FLETC GLYNCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- DAWKINS ON-SITE LLC - GITCToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- EZ MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EFFINGHAM COUNTY SURFACE WATER SYSTEMPFAS · 0.8 mi
- MALLARD POINTE/DRAKE LANDINGPFAS · 0.8 mi
- Rincon Market & FuelUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Rinku Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 36S048Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- RINCON COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rincon'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 Rincon.
Total Sites
179
within ~10 miles of Rincon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rincon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rincon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rincon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Rincon — PFAS (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (14 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Rincon
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 Rincon average
Your land is one point inside Rincon
Everything above resolves to Rincon as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Effingham 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 Rincon Average
Rincon Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Rincon
- ●One soil character for all of Rincon
- ●Frost dates read at Rincon's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rincon's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rincon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rincon, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rincon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rincon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rincon average
How we know this about Rincon
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 Effingham 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 Rincon
When does frost risk typically end in Rincon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rincon typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Rincon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rincon typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 299 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rincon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rincon sees about 299 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 26, about 264 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rincon?
The federal record around Rincon is a meaningful one — 179 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (98), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Rincon?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rincon's scale — its 9a band and its 299-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rincon'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 Rincon’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rincon's own scale — the 6,237 acres it covers and 179 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rincon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 179 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rincon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rincon's boundary and the 6,237 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~299-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rincon's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rincon has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Effingham County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rincon's 6,237 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Effingham County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Effingham 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 Effingham County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rincon's 6,237 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rincon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,237 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Rincon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Wider growing context
What grows across GeorgiaRincon sits outside our named growing regions, so Georgia as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides