Waycross, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waycross, 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 Waycross 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 Waycross — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Waycross — the short answer
Waycross, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 295 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Ware County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Ware County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~295
- Ware County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Ware County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Waycross's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waycross's 295-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waycross
Each reading below is measured for Waycross itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWaycross runs about 295 days between hard freezes (read from Ware County, the closest normal to Waycross) — 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
MeasuredWaycross 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 Waycross is in
Waycross sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Waycross's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ware County.
What Grows in Waycross
Every plant below cleared Waycross's own zone 9a and its 295-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waycross?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (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 Waycross
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waycross. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WAYCROSS FIRE STATION #1Underground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- 27H001Nitrate · 300 ft
- 27H004Nitrate · 500 ft
- CSX TRANSPORTATION/SEABOARD SYSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- WILBUR JAMES TIRE & BATTERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- WAYCROSS CITY HALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- LAVELYUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CSX TRANSPORTATION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- GA DEPT PUBLIC SAFETY/GA STATE POST 22Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CHAMPION INTERNATIONAL/WAYCROSSUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- SCOTT AVIATION SYSTEM INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waycross'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 Waycross.
Total Sites
291
within ~10 miles of Waycross
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waycross
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waycross
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waycross, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Waycross — PFAS (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (221 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Waycross
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 Waycross average
Your land is one point inside Waycross
Everything above resolves to Waycross as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Ware 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 Waycross Average
Waycross Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Waycross
- ●One soil character for all of Waycross
- ●Frost dates read at Waycross's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waycross's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waycross
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waycross, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waycross averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waycross — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waycross average
How we know this about Waycross
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 Ware 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 Waycross
When does frost risk typically end in Waycross?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waycross typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Waycross?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waycross 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 295 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Waycross?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waycross sees about 295 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 22, about 260 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Waycross?
The federal record around Waycross is a meaningful one — 291 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (221), 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 Waycross?
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 Waycross's scale — its 9a band and its 295-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waycross'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 Waycross’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Waycross's own scale — the 7,602 acres it covers and 291 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waycross's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 291 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waycross, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waycross's boundary and the 7,602 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~295-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waycross's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Waycross has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Ware County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waycross's 7,602 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ware County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ware 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 Ware County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waycross's 7,602 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waycross you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,602 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 Waycross-wide figureread your own land →
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