Stonecrest, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Stonecrest, 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 Stonecrest 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 Stonecrest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stonecrest — the short answer
Stonecrest, Georgia: USDA zone 8a, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 24K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 5
- DeKalb County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- DeKalb County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- DeKalb County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 24K 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 DeKalb County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Stonecrest's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stonecrest's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stonecrest
Each reading below is measured for Stonecrest itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsStonecrest runs about 269 days between hard freezes (read from DeKalb County, the closest normal to Stonecrest) — 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
MeasuredStonecrest sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Stonecrest is in
Stonecrest sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Stonecrest's own centroid rather than borrowed from DeKalb County.
What Grows in Stonecrest
Every plant below cleared Stonecrest's own zone 8a and its 269-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stonecrest?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Stonecrest
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stonecrest. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DEKALB CO FIRE #17Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WILLIAMS FURNITURE REFINISHINGSuperfund · 0.7 mi
- METROPOLITAN GOLF & COUNTRY CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- DEKALB CENTER/MARKET CHEVROLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- MARATHON FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- SHELL FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- EMORY HILLANDALE HOSPITALBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- DEKALB MEDICAL CENTER AT HILLANDALEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- EXXON FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- DUPREE PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- PUBLIX SUPERMARKET 752 CENTRE AT PANOLABrownfields · 2.0 mi
- MURPHY USA #7067Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stonecrest'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 Stonecrest.
Total Sites
865
within ~10 miles of Stonecrest
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
13 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stonecrest
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stonecrest
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Stonecrest, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Stonecrest — Toxics Release Inventory (65 sites) and Superfund (13 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Stonecrest
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 Stonecrest average
Your land is one point inside Stonecrest
Everything above resolves to Stonecrest as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 24K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from DeKalb 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 Stonecrest Average
Stonecrest Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Stonecrest
- ●One soil character for all of Stonecrest
- ●Frost dates read at Stonecrest's scale: Mar 5 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stonecrest's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stonecrest
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stonecrest, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stonecrest averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stonecrest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stonecrest average
How we know this about Stonecrest
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 DeKalb 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 Stonecrest
When does frost risk typically end in Stonecrest?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stonecrest typically lands around Mar 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Stonecrest?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stonecrest typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 269 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stonecrest?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stonecrest sees about 269 frost-free days — roughly Mar 5 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 26 to Nov 15, about 234 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stonecrest?
The federal record around Stonecrest is a meaningful one — 865 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (593), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Stonecrest?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Stonecrest's scale — its 8a band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stonecrest'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 Stonecrest’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Stonecrest's own scale — the 23,967 acres it covers and 865 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stonecrest's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 865 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stonecrest, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stonecrest's boundary and the 23,967 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~269-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stonecrest's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Stonecrest has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom DeKalb County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Stonecrest's 23,967 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom DeKalb County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom DeKalb 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 DeKalb County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Stonecrest's 23,967 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stonecrest you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 23,967 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Stonecrest-wide figureread your own land →
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