Thomson, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Thomson, 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 Thomson 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 Thomson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Thomson — the short answer
Thomson, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 260 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 10
- McDuffie County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- McDuffie County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~260
- McDuffie County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 3K 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 McDuffie County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Thomson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Thomson's 260-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Thomson
Each reading below is measured for Thomson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsThomson runs about 260 days between hard freezes (read from McDuffie County, the closest normal to Thomson) — 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
MeasuredThomson 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 Thomson is in
Thomson sits in the Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Thomson's own centroid rather than borrowed from McDuffie County.
What Grows in Thomson
Every plant below cleared Thomson's own zone 8b and its 260-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Thomson?
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 Feb 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — 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 Thomson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Thomson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MCDUFFIE COUNTY ROAD DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- THOMSON MAINT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- HAWES-KNOX GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- AUGUSTA RD EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- FORMER SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- DEPOT EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- THOMSON MOTOR CENTER/LORI FOWLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- THOMSON MOTOR CENTRE INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 2600 ft
- JOE BAKERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GA DOT #10222 MCDUFFIE CO MAINTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CAMAK QUARRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Thomson'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 Thomson.
Total Sites
153
within ~10 miles of Thomson
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
13 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Thomson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Thomson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Thomson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Thomson — Toxics Release Inventory (13 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (108 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Thomson
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 Thomson average
Your land is one point inside Thomson
Everything above resolves to Thomson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from McDuffie 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 Thomson Average
Thomson Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Thomson
- ●One soil character for all of Thomson
- ●Frost dates read at Thomson's scale: Mar 10 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Thomson's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Thomson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Thomson, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Thomson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Thomson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Thomson average
How we know this about Thomson
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 McDuffie 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 Thomson
When does frost risk typically end in Thomson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Thomson typically lands around Mar 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Thomson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Thomson typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 260 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Thomson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Thomson sees about 260 frost-free days — roughly Mar 10 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 31 to Nov 11, about 225 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Thomson?
The federal record around Thomson shows 153 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (108), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Thomson?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Thomson's scale — its 8b band and its 260-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Thomson'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 Thomson’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Thomson's own scale — the 3,069 acres it covers and 153 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Thomson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 153 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Thomson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Thomson's boundary and the 3,069 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~260-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Thomson's own centroid, the PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Thomson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom McDuffie County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Thomson's 3,069 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McDuffie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McDuffie 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 McDuffie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Thomson's 3,069 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Thomson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,069 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 Thomson-wide figureread your own land →