Summertown, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Summertown, 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 Summertown 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 Summertown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Summertown — the short answer
Summertown, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 290 days between hard freezes, across 503 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Emanuel County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Emanuel County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~290
- Emanuel County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 503 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 Emanuel County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Summertown's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Summertown's 290-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Summertown
Each reading below is measured for Summertown itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSummertown runs about 290 days between hard freezes (read from Emanuel County, the closest normal to Summertown) — 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
MeasuredSummertown 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 Summertown is in
Summertown sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Summertown's own centroid rather than borrowed from Emanuel County.
What Grows in Summertown
Every plant below cleared Summertown's own zone 8b and its 290-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Summertown?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Summertown
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Summertown. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHOATES SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- 27V002Nitrate · 2000 ft
- JACK BISHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- S T FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- H C TAYLORUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- SUMMERTOWN SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- LILLIAM M BISHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- GOLDEN PANTRY #83Underground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- HERMAN SIKESUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- C & G CAR CARE INCBrownfields · 5.4 mi
- 28W003Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- MIDVILLE WOODYARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Summertown'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 Summertown.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Summertown
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Summertown
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Summertown, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 28 sites within ~10 miles of Summertown. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Summertown
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 Summertown average
Your land is one point inside Summertown
Everything above resolves to Summertown as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 503 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Emanuel 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 Summertown Average
Summertown Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Summertown
- ●One soil character for all of Summertown
- ●Frost dates read at Summertown's scale: Feb 20 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Summertown's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Summertown
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Summertown, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Summertown averages can't show:
We read public map data around Summertown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Summertown average
How we know this about Summertown
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 Emanuel 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 Summertown
When does frost risk typically end in Summertown?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Summertown typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Summertown?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Summertown 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 290 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Summertown?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Summertown sees about 290 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 23, about 255 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Summertown?
The federal record around Summertown is light — 39 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (28), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Summertown?
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 Summertown's scale — its 8b band and its 290-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Summertown'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 Summertown’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Summertown's own scale — the 503 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Summertown's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Summertown, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Summertown's boundary and the 503 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~290-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Summertown's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Summertown has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Emanuel County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Summertown's 503 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Emanuel County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Emanuel 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 Emanuel County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Summertown's 503 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Summertown you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 503 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 Summertown-wide figureread your own land →
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