Wadley, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Wadley, 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 Wadley 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 Wadley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Wadley — the short answer
Wadley, Georgia: USDA zone 8b, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 1
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- Jefferson 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 Jefferson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Wadley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wadley's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wadley
Each reading below is measured for Wadley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWadley runs about 269 days between hard freezes (read from Jefferson County, the closest normal to Wadley) — 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
MeasuredWadley 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 Wadley is in
Wadley sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Wadley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Wadley
Every plant below cleared Wadley's own zone 8b and its 269-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wadley?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 1 (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 Wadley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wadley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KIRAN INC DBA MINIMART #2Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- GA DOT #10245 JEFFERSON CO SPECUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CARVER ELEM SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- CITY OF WADLEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- WADLEY JR HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 26W001Nitrate · 2000 ft
- T & T FULL AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SHAKE RAG EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- FULGHUM INDUSTRIES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FORMER GULF STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FARMERS GIN & STORAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BATTLE LUMBER CO INCToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wadley'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 Wadley.
Total Sites
80
within ~10 miles of Wadley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wadley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wadley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wadley, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wadley — Superfund (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (57 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Wadley
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 Wadley average
Your land is one point inside Wadley
Everything above resolves to Wadley as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jefferson 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 Wadley Average
Wadley Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Wadley
- ●One soil character for all of Wadley
- ●Frost dates read at Wadley's scale: Mar 1 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wadley's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wadley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wadley, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wadley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wadley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wadley average
How we know this about Wadley
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 Jefferson 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 Wadley
When does frost risk typically end in Wadley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wadley typically lands around Mar 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Wadley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wadley 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 269 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wadley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wadley sees about 269 frost-free days — roughly Mar 1 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 22 to Nov 11, about 234 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wadley?
The federal record around Wadley is a meaningful one — 80 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (57), 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 Wadley?
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 Wadley's scale — its 8b band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wadley'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 Wadley’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Wadley's own scale — the 2,916 acres it covers and 80 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wadley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 80 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wadley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wadley's boundary and the 2,916 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~269-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wadley's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Wadley has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jefferson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wadley's 2,916 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wadley's 2,916 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wadley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,916 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 Wadley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Georgia
Wider growing context
What grows across GeorgiaWadley sits outside our named growing regions, so Georgia as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides