Statesboro, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Statesboro, 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 Statesboro 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 Statesboro — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Statesboro — the short answer
Statesboro, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Bulloch County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Bulloch County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Bulloch County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 10K 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 Bulloch County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Statesboro's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Statesboro's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Statesboro
Each reading below is measured for Statesboro itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsStatesboro runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Bulloch County, the closest normal to Statesboro) — 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
MeasuredStatesboro 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 Statesboro is in
Statesboro sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Statesboro's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bulloch County.
What Grows in Statesboro
Every plant below cleared Statesboro's own zone 8b and its 293-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Statesboro?
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 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 7 — 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 Statesboro
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Statesboro. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EASON CONSTRUCTION COUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- CLAUDE HOWARD LUMBER COMPANY, INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 750 ft
- HOWARD LUMBER COUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- KENNEDY CONCRETE & SUPPLY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Kevin's Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- T E RUSHING PEANUT COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- BULLOCH MEMORIAL HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- FORMER ZIPPY MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #6861Brownfields · 2300 ft
- FLASH FOODS #129Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- STUBBS OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- OWEN ZETTEROWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Statesboro'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 Statesboro.
Total Sites
254
within ~10 miles of Statesboro
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Statesboro
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Statesboro
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Statesboro, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Statesboro — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (191 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Statesboro
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 Statesboro average
Your land is one point inside Statesboro
Everything above resolves to Statesboro as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bulloch 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 Statesboro Average
Statesboro Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Statesboro
- ●One soil character for all of Statesboro
- ●Frost dates read at Statesboro's scale: Feb 17 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Statesboro's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Statesboro
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Statesboro, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Statesboro averages can't show:
We read public map data around Statesboro — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Statesboro average
How we know this about Statesboro
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 Bulloch 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 Statesboro
When does frost risk typically end in Statesboro?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Statesboro typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Statesboro?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Statesboro typically arrives around Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 23, so the watching starts about Nov 7 — about 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Statesboro?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Statesboro sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 23, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Statesboro?
The federal record around Statesboro is a meaningful one — 254 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (191), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Statesboro?
From about Nov 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Statesboro's scale — its 8b band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Statesboro'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 Statesboro’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Statesboro's own scale — the 9,607 acres it covers and 254 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Statesboro's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 254 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Statesboro, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Statesboro's boundary and the 9,607 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~293-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Statesboro's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Statesboro has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bulloch County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Statesboro's 9,607 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bulloch County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bulloch 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 Bulloch County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Statesboro's 9,607 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Statesboro you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,607 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 Statesboro-wide figureread your own land →
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