Unlikely — Zone Mismatch
Ecuador laurel (zones 10-12) does not overlap with Arkansas's zone range (6b-8b). Growing outdoors is unlikely without significant protection.
2 zones short — what would close it
Ecuador Laurel is hardy to zone 10, and the warmest ground in Arkansas is zone 8 — 2 zones short. Planted in open ground it will not survive a Arkansas winter. To grow it here, grow ecuador laurel in an earth-sheltered greenhouse — its modeled 2.5-zone lift covers this gap.
An earth-sheltered greenhouse is the lift this needs. How a greenhouse changes what you can grow →
Zone math from 10-12 (plant) against 6-8 (Arkansas). Lift modeled by crop_engine.GREENHOUSE_ZONE_MODIFIER_BY_SUBTYPE['earth_sheltered'] (+2.5 zones) via api/fast_sections.py Unlock Engine v2.
Ecuador Laurel in Arkansas — the short answer
Ecuador Laurel in Arkansas: hardy in zones 10–12, full sun.
- Plant zones
- 10-12
- Not verified
- Arkansas zones
- 6b-8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Frost window
- Mar 2 - Mar 20 – Nov 15 - Nov 23
- NOAA RCC ACIS 1991-2020, 28°F
- Shortest county season
- 226 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS and university Extension sources — per-field provenance varies and is published with the dataset.
Your yard isn't the whole zone.
Arkansas spans zones 6b-8b, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and cold-air pockets nudge it further. Enter your address and we'll score ecuador laurel against your parcel's actual hardiness, soil, and sun.
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your parcel report in seconds — read in full free for your first 14 days
Arkansas is not one climate
Arkansas’s winter-low ladder runs across 75 counties, from zone 7 in Benton County to zone 8.5 in Union County. That is 15°F between the two counties’ average coldest night — the difference between ecuador laurel overwintering in the ground and coming under cover.
The middle half of 75 counties runs 7.5–8 zones, with a median of 8 zones — a 1.5-zone span end to end.
Measured across 75 Arkansas counties. USDA PHZM 2023, per county. Quartiles are order statistics — every figure shown is a value a real county recorded, not an interpolation. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where Ecuador Laurel Stands in Arkansas
Ecuador Laurel is rated for zones 10–12 — a cold floor USDA puts at 30 to 40°F. No Arkansas county sits inside it, so in open ground this is a grown-under-cover plant here rather than a bed plant — which is a statement about Arkansas winters, not about ecuador laurel.
Below the zone 10 floor
75 counties
- Benton County · zone 7a
- Carroll County · zone 7a
- Fulton County · zone 7a
3 of 75 shown
Winter cold is the limit here — the same plant works in a container that comes under cover.
County hardiness zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) 2023, per county. A zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme minimum temperature, so the floor above is the band the plant's rating denotes, not a single measured kill point. Slope, shelter and cold-air drainage routinely move a site half a zone either way from its county figure — which is the part only your address resolves.
Zone Comparison
Ecuador Laurel Needs
- USDA Zones: 10-12
- Sun: Full Sun
- Drought tolerance: Low
Arkansas Has
- USDA Zones: 6b-8b
- Last Hard Freeze (28°F): Mar 2 - Mar 20
- First Hard Freeze (28°F): Nov 15 - Nov 23
- Annual Rainfall: 44-56 inches
- Common Soils: Silt loam, Sandy loam, Red clay
Plant Zone Range (zones 10-12)
Preferred Soil pH
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS, and university Extension sources — per-field provenance varies and is published with the dataset. State data: USDA ARS PHZM 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NRCS SSURGO.
When to Plant Ecuador Laurel in Arkansas
The frost window
Across Arkansas, the last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Mar 2 and Mar 20, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Nov 15 and Nov 23 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Counting from the latest last freeze to the earliest first freeze, that's a 240-day window you can count on — up to 266 days on a mild site in a kind year. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost, so tender transplants usually wait another 2-3 weeks.
Winter standing
Arkansas runs as cold as USDA zone 6, and no sourced winter-hardiness floor is on record for ecuador laurel, so this page does not state whether it overwinters here — and gives no fall establishment date on the strength of a guess. Whether ecuador laurel is a permanent planting or a replant-every-spring crop for you turns on your own zone within Arkansas; check its hardiness range against that before treating it as long-lived ground.
Timing tuned to sub-state frost dates — Carroll County, not the statewide average.
Frost window: NOAA Climate Normals 1991-2020. Plant timing fields: Growable Ground Plant Database — frost-free days from FAO ECOCROP, days to harvest from university Extension production guides, and growing-degree-day and chill-hour minimums that are compilation estimates rather than published figures. Your site's own frost dates can run earlier or later than the state range — a parcel report pins them down.
Soil + Drainage Fit
Ecuador Laurel likes near-neutral soil (pH 6-8.5). That's the common-ground band across Arkansas's silt loam and sandy loam — a soil test confirms it for your site. It will grow across that whole span, but it does best between pH 6.5 and 7.5 — worth knowing before you decide whether a Arkansas soil test result is a problem or just a number. Drainage matters: this plant wants well (dry spells). If your Arkansas site is heavier clay or sits in a low spot, a raised bed lifts the roots above wet ground, or work in compost.
Your land, not the state average
SSURGO maps about 33.9% of Arkansas as poorly or somewhat-poorly drained, and the class flips parcel to parcel. Ecuador Laurel has low drought tolerance, so it is the fast-draining end that will cost you — your soil map unit, not the state average, is the real answer.
Check your parcel → Source: USDA NRCS SSURGO.
Plant pH requirements: FAO ECOCROP and USDA PLANTS, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. Drainage: FAO ECOCROP, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. Arkansas soil profile from USDA NRCS SSURGO. Site-specific verification: a 30-minute soil test from your local Extension lab.
Before you plant ecuador laurel for food
Anything you grow to eat takes up what is in the ground it grows in, so what is on record near you is worth knowing before ecuador laurel goes in. What follows is Arkansas’s documented federal record at state scale — a screening signal, not a soil test, and not a statement about any one lot.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Arkansas — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Arkansas — 12,957 documented sites across 7 of the 8 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 88 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Arkansas carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds of imported, lab-tested soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources Checked
across Arkansas
Severity Distribution
across Arkansas
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 950K documented sites tracked nationwide across 8 federal source types.
What Else to Consider for Ecuador Laurel in Arkansas
Zone compatibility tells you about winter cold survival — but Arkansas growers also need to think about:
Hot, humid summers drive fungal and bacterial diseases
Heavy clay soils in parts of the Ozarks
Severe spring storms and hail risk
Growing ecuador laurel here specifically
Ecuador Laurel roots run deep and prefer pH 6.0–8.5, but drainage comes first here: SSURGO maps about 33.9% of Arkansas as poorly or somewhat-poorly drained, and wet ground rots its crown before pH ever matters.
Plant ecuador laurel on a raised, gravel-amended berm so water drains fast and the crown stays dry. How to handle it →
What to actually do about these — and the constraints that apply to every Arkansas grower, not just ecuador laurel — is covered on the Arkansas growing guide.
Timing shifts within Arkansas
Arkansas isn't one climate. In Carroll County, the last hard freeze (28°F) holds until about Mar 26 — roughly 16 days later than the recorded state median — so plant ecuador laurel to your county's window, not the statewide date.
County last-freeze dates: NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991-2020), county 28°F freeze (earlier than the folk 32°F "last frost"). A parcel report resolves your address's own frost dates.
Where in Arkansas Ecuador Laurel Is Zone-Hardy
Ecuador Laurel is rated for USDA zones 10–12. No Arkansas county reaches it. Even Union County, the state’s mildest winter at zone 8b, sits below the plant’s zone 10 floor — so in open ground this one needs winter protection here, or a container that comes under cover.
Across those 75 counties Arkansas’s winter-low ladder runs from zone 7a in Benton County to zone 8b in Union County — 1.5 USDA zones of spread, which is 15°F between the two counties’ average coldest night of the year. None of that range reaches the band ecuador laurel needs, so here the statewide answer really is the answer.
County hardiness zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) 2023, per county. Ecuador Laurel’s zone 10–12 band: Not verified. A parcel report resolves your address’s own zone and frost dates rather than its county’s.
Pollinator + Wildlife Value
Ecuador Laurel draws honeybees and native bees (moderate value). Planting it near vegetable beds can lift fruit set on neighboring crops. Outdoors, ecuador laurel can only work that bloom inside Arkansas's frost window — roughly 254 days, opening after the last 28°F freeze (Mar 2 - Mar 20) and closing at the first (Nov 15 - Nov 23), per NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. Pollinator value: We haven't confirmed this against a published source yet.
Arkansas Cooperative Extension
For Arkansas-specific cultivar recommendations, planting calendars, and pest pressure for ecuador laurel, the canonical source is University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Their fact sheets carry the local trial data we can't generalize across 50 states.
Is Ecuador Laurel native to Arkansas?
No — the USDA PLANTS Database lists Ecuador Laurel as introduced rather than native in the Lower 48, so it is not part of Arkansas's native flora. It grows here as a garden plant; pairing it with a few Arkansas natives keeps local pollinators fed too.
Looking for plants that belong here? The Arkansas growing guide lists plants that USDA PLANTS records growing in Arkansas and that Kew and NatureServe Explorer both list in its native range, leaving out any that NatureServe flags as exotic there or that our audit holds.
State records: USDA PLANTS Database state-distribution data (presence, not state-level nativity), accessed 2026-10-19.
Common Questions About Growing Ecuador Laurel in Arkansas
When can I plant Ecuador Laurel in Arkansas?
Arkansas's last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Mar 2 and Mar 20, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Nov 15 and Nov 23 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). No sourced winter-hardiness floor is on record for Ecuador Laurel, so this page does not state whether it overwinters in Arkansas and publishes no fall establishment date for it — check its hardiness range against your own zone before treating it as a permanent planting.
What hardiness zone is Ecuador Laurel grown in across Arkansas?
Arkansas spans USDA hardiness zones 6b-8b (USDA ARS PHZM 2023). Ecuador Laurel is listed for zones 10-12, which do not overlap them, so there is no zone in Arkansas where this page can call outdoor growing reliable. A parcel report resolves your own address's zone.
How many frost-free days does a typical Arkansas site have?
A typical Arkansas site sees ~254 frost-free days per year (derived from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Ecuador Laurel needs 240+ frost-free days, so check whether your local microclimate runs above or below the state average before settling on a planting date. In cooler counties like Carroll, the freeze-free season runs shorter than the state average, so verify your own county's window.
Is Ecuador Laurel native to Arkansas?
No — the USDA PLANTS Database lists Ecuador Laurel as introduced rather than native in the Lower 48, so it is not part of Arkansas's native flora. It grows here as a garden plant; pairing it with a few Arkansas natives keeps local pollinators fed too.
How should I amend the soil for Ecuador Laurel in Arkansas?
Ecuador Laurel prefers pH 6-8.5 and well (dry spells) drainage (FAO ECOCROP). That sits in the common-ground band across Arkansas soils — a 30-minute soil test from a local Extension lab confirms it for your specific site.
Will Ecuador Laurel actually grow on my specific land in Arkansas?
State-level zone + climate data is a sketch. A Growable Ground parcel report scores ecuador laurel against your address's mapped soil pH, drainage, sun, and frost-date data drawn from USDA SSURGO, NOAA, and PRISM — not state averages.
Check your specific parcel in Arkansas
State-level data is a sketch. Your Growable Ground report scores ecuador laurel against your land's mapped soil, modelled sun, drainage, and frost data — not zone averages.
Three things about your lot that Arkansas ecuador laurel averages can't show:
We read public map data around Arkansas — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Arkansas ecuador laurel average
Explore More
Growing guides for ecuador laurel
Explore Arkansas county by county
Arkansas carries 75 counties with their own USDA zone — a sample of the growing pages for ecuador laurel there:
Where else ecuador laurel grows
Ecuador Laurel's zone band crosses state lines — these are the states closest to Arkansas in winter climate where it also has a page, plus the far ends of its range. Each one re-answers the question with that state's own record.
More to grow in Arkansas
Arkansas has a growing page for 1,012 plants — a rotating sample of the rest of the shelf.
Analysis by the Growable Ground research team, grounded in USDA PLANTS, USDA NRCS SSURGO, NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020), and named Cooperative Extension sources. How we know →
Cite this dataset
Kirchick, M. (2026). Growable Ground Plant Database [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21435643
Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21435643
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