Unionville, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Unionville, 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 Unionville 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 Unionville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Unionville — the short answer
Unionville, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 300 days between hard freezes, across 481 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 9
- Tift County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Tift County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~300
- Tift County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 481 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 Tift County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Unionville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Unionville's 300-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Unionville
Each reading below is measured for Unionville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsUnionville runs about 300 days between hard freezes (read from Tift County, the closest normal to Unionville) — 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
MeasuredUnionville 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 Unionville is in
Unionville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Unionville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tift County.
What Grows in Unionville
Every plant below cleared Unionville's own zone 9a and its 300-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Unionville?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Unionville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Unionville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SS 25217Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- WHIDDON RD 66 SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- PARRAMORE FERTILIZERSuperfund · 1000 ft
- PARRAMORE FERTILIZERBrownfields · 1000 ft
- REEVES CONSTRUCTION COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TARGET DISTRIBUTION CENTER T0556Brownfields · 1300 ft
- SO-GREEN BARREN AREASuperfund · 1800 ft
- BJS MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- DIXIE FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- RILEYS RECYCLINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- GM INTERNATIONALUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SUNNY SWIFTY FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Unionville'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 Unionville.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Unionville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Unionville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Unionville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Unionville — Superfund (6 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Unionville
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 Unionville average
Your land is one point inside Unionville
Everything above resolves to Unionville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 481 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tift County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Unionville Average
Unionville Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Unionville
- ●One soil character for all of Unionville
- ●Frost dates read at Unionville's scale: Feb 9 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Unionville's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Unionville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Unionville, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Unionville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Unionville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Unionville average
How we know this about Unionville
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Tift 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Unionville
When does frost risk typically end in Unionville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Unionville typically lands around Feb 9, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Unionville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Unionville typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 300 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Unionville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Unionville sees about 300 frost-free days — roughly Feb 9 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 2 to Nov 22, about 265 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Unionville?
The federal record around Unionville is a meaningful one — 317 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (213), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Unionville?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Unionville's scale — its 9a band and its 300-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Unionville'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 Unionville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Unionville's own scale — the 481 acres it covers and 317 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Unionville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 317 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Unionville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Unionville's boundary and the 481 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~300-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Unionville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Unionville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tift County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Unionville's 481 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tift County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tift 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 Tift County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Unionville's 481 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Unionville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 481 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 Unionville-wide figureread your own land →
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