Atlanta, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Atlanta, 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 Atlanta 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 Atlanta — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Atlanta — the short answer
Atlanta, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Cass County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Cass County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Cass 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 Cass County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Atlanta's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Atlanta's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Atlanta
Each reading below is measured for Atlanta itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAtlanta runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Cass County, the closest normal to Atlanta) — 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
MeasuredAtlanta 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 Atlanta is in
Atlanta sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Atlanta's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cass County.
What Grows in Atlanta
Every plant below cleared Atlanta's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Atlanta?
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 Jan 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Atlanta
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Atlanta. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GUARD-LINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- KIMS 35Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- ENDSLEY GROCER PARTNERSHIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- HANNER & ELLISUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- STAR MART 4Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- UNION PACIFIC RAILROADUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- MASON OIL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- DB-16-63-201Nitrate · 950 ft
- CASS CONTY FARM SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- E-Z MART 73Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- EZ MART 27Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SHUR SAKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Atlanta'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 Atlanta.
Total Sites
81
within ~10 miles of Atlanta
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Atlanta
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Atlanta
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Atlanta, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 28 sites within ~10 miles of Atlanta. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Atlanta
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 Atlanta average
Your land is one point inside Atlanta
Everything above resolves to Atlanta as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Cass 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 Atlanta Average
Atlanta Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Atlanta
- ●One soil character for all of Atlanta
- ●Frost dates read at Atlanta's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Atlanta's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Atlanta
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Atlanta, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Atlanta averages can't show:
We read public map data around Atlanta — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Atlanta average
How we know this about Atlanta
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 Cass 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 Atlanta
When does frost risk typically end in Atlanta?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Atlanta typically lands around Feb 25, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Atlanta?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Atlanta typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Atlanta?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Atlanta sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 15, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Atlanta?
The federal record around Atlanta shows 81 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (45), 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 Atlanta?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Atlanta's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Atlanta'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 Atlanta’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Atlanta's own scale — the 8,000 acres it covers and 81 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Atlanta's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 81 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Atlanta, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Atlanta's boundary and the 8,000 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Atlanta's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Atlanta has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Cass County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Atlanta's 8,000 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cass County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cass County
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Cass County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Atlanta's 8,000 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Atlanta you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,000 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 Atlanta-wide figureread your own land →
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