Rochelle, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Rochelle, 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 Rochelle 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 Rochelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rochelle — the short answer
Rochelle, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 294 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~294
- Wilcox County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Wilcox County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Rochelle's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rochelle's 294-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rochelle
Each reading below is measured for Rochelle itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRochelle runs about 294 days between hard freezes (read from Wilcox County, the closest normal to Rochelle) — 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
MeasuredRochelle 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 Rochelle is in
Rochelle sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rochelle's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wilcox County.
What Grows in Rochelle
Every plant below cleared Rochelle's own zone 9a and its 294-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rochelle?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 5 — 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 Rochelle
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rochelle. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GA FCUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- E Z CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- TIDE PRODUCTS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- DW WOODUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- DOSTER WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- GTE/CTC OF THE SOUTH-ROCHELLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- A V FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WILCOX COUNTY SCHOOLS BUS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ROCHELLE PLACE #171Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- PINEVIEW 66 SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MIDDLE GEORGIA EMCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MARTIN CHEMICAL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rochelle'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 Rochelle.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of Rochelle
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rochelle
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rochelle
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rochelle, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 36 sites within ~10 miles of Rochelle. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Rochelle
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 Rochelle average
Your land is one point inside Rochelle
Everything above resolves to Rochelle as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Wilcox 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 Rochelle Average
Rochelle Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Rochelle
- ●One soil character for all of Rochelle
- ●Frost dates read at Rochelle's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rochelle's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rochelle
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rochelle, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rochelle averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rochelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rochelle average
How we know this about Rochelle
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 Wilcox 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 Rochelle
When does frost risk typically end in Rochelle?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rochelle 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 Rochelle?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rochelle typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 294 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rochelle?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rochelle sees about 294 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 21, about 259 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rochelle?
The federal record around Rochelle is light — 48 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (36), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Rochelle?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rochelle's scale — its 9a band and its 294-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rochelle'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 Rochelle’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rochelle's own scale — the 1,220 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rochelle's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rochelle, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rochelle's boundary and the 1,220 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~294-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rochelle's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rochelle has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Wilcox County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rochelle's 1,220 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wilcox County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wilcox 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 Wilcox County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rochelle's 1,220 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rochelle you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,220 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Rochelle-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Wider growing context
What grows across GeorgiaRochelle sits outside our named growing regions, so Georgia as a whole is its closest context here.