French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus var. sativa), photographi

Can I Grow French Tarragon in Mississippi?

USDA Zones 7b-9b · Plant zone range 3-7

Conditional — Some Areas

French tarragon (zones 3-7) reaches only part of Mississippi (7b-9b): zone 7 are in range, so where you are in the state decides it.

French Tarragon in Mississippi — the short answer

French Tarragon in Mississippi: hardy in zones 3–7, against a state median of ~273 frost-free days.

Plant zones
3-7
Manual horticultural correction (source not retained); NC State Extension and Missouri Botanical Garden, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation
Mississippi zones
7b-9b
USDA PHZM 2023
Frost window
Feb 17 - Mar 3 – Nov 21 - Nov 30
NOAA RCC ACIS 1991-2020, 28°F
Shortest county season
232 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.

Score your parcel · free

Your yard isn't the whole zone.

Mississippi spans zones 7b-9b, but your yard has its own microclimate — slope, trees, and low spots shift frost and sun across a single parcel. Enter your address and we'll score french tarragon against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.

We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Mississippi is not one climate

A single Mississippi answer averages 82 counties whose growing seasons are 77 days apart — from 232 frost-free days in Tishomingo County to 309 in Harrison County. Which end of that your land sits nearer changes what french tarragon can finish before the first hard freeze.

232 daysTishomingo County309 daysHarrison County

The middle half of 82 counties runs 262286 days, with a median of 272 days — a 77-day span end to end.

Measured across 82 Mississippi counties. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze. 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 French Tarragon Stands in Mississippi

French Tarragon is rated for zones 37 — a cold floor USDA puts at -40 to -30°F. No Mississippi 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 Mississippi winters, not about french tarragon.

Above the zone 7 ceiling

82 counties

3 of 82 shown

Too little winter chill rather than too much cold — a low-chill selection is what changes it.

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

French Tarragon Needs

  • USDA Zones: 3-7
  • Picking window: ~90 days of harvest

Mississippi Has

  • USDA Zones: 7b-9b
  • Last Hard Freeze (28°F): Feb 17 - Mar 3
  • First Hard Freeze (28°F): Nov 21 - Nov 30
  • Annual Rainfall: 50-65 inches
  • Common Soils: Loess, Alluvial clay, Sandy loam

Plant Zone Range (zones 3-7)

3a
7b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

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 French Tarragon in Mississippi

The frost window

Across Mississippi, the last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Feb 17 and Mar 3, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Nov 21 and Nov 30 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Counting from the latest last freeze to the earliest first freeze, that's a 263-day window you can count on — up to 286 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.

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.

Before you plant french tarragon 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 french tarragon goes in. What follows is Mississippi’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 Mississippi — and how to grow with it.

Federal record: High

We checked the federal record across Mississippi20,263 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.

The most significant on record: 118 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.

Mississippi 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 with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.

Know before you grow — the guide

Sources Checked

across Mississippi

Severity Distribution

across Mississippi

High155Moderate8,367Low11,741

Highest-Severity Sites

PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Superfund · Superfund NPL
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Mississippi, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 211 sites across Mississippi. 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.

Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.

Sources: EPA, USGS1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.

What Else to Consider for French Tarragon in Mississippi

Zone compatibility tells you about winter cold survival — but Mississippi growers also need to think about:

Extreme summer heat and humidity

Heavy alluvial clay in the Delta region

Frequent severe storms and flooding

What to actually do about these — and the constraints that apply to every Mississippi grower, not just french tarragon — is covered on the Mississippi growing guide.

Where in Mississippi French Tarragon Is Zone-Hardy

French Tarragon is rated for USDA zones 37. Every Mississippi county sits above it. Even Benton County, the state’s coldest at zone 7b, is milder than the plant’s zone 7 ceiling — the constraint here is winter chill it will not get, not cold it cannot take.

Across those 82 counties Mississippi’s winter-low ladder runs from zone 7b in Benton County to zone 9a in Wilkinson 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 french tarragon needs, so here the statewide answer really is the answer.

County hardiness zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) 2023, per county. French Tarragon’s zone 37 band: USDA PLANTS / Growable Ground plant database. A parcel report resolves your address’s own zone and frost dates rather than its county’s.

Mississippi Cooperative Extension

For Mississippi-specific cultivar recommendations, planting calendars, and pest pressure for french tarragon, the canonical source is Mississippi State University Extension Service. Their fact sheets carry the local trial data we can't generalize across 50 states.

Common Questions About Growing French Tarragon in Mississippi

When can I plant French Tarragon in Mississippi?

Mississippi's last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Feb 17 and Mar 3, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Nov 21 and Nov 30 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Time outdoor planting to after the last hard freeze for your specific site — a further two to three weeks for anything tender — and count back from those dates for transplant scheduling.

What hardiness zone is French Tarragon grown in across Mississippi?

Mississippi spans USDA hardiness zones 7b-9b (USDA ARS PHZM 2023). French Tarragon carries a range of zones 3-7, so the overlap zones are where outdoor growing is most reliable.

How many frost-free days does a typical Mississippi site have?

A typical Mississippi site sees ~273 frost-free days per year (derived from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). French Tarragon should be matched against that window, so check whether your local microclimate runs above or below the state average before settling on a planting date.

Will French Tarragon actually grow on my specific land in Mississippi?

State-level zone + climate data is a sketch. A Growable Ground parcel report scores french tarragon against your address's exact soil pH, drainage, sun, and frost-date data drawn from USDA SSURGO, NOAA, and PRISM — not state averages.

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Mississippi

State-level data is a sketch. Your Growable Ground report scores french tarragon against your parcel's exact soil, sun, drainage, and frost data — not zone averages.

Three things about your lot that Mississippi french tarragon averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Mississippi averages 273Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Mississippi — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mississippi french tarragon average

Explore More

Explore Mississippi county by county

Mississippi carries 82 counties with their own USDA zone — a sample of the growing pages for french tarragon there:

Where else french tarragon grows

French Tarragon's zone band crosses state lines — these are the states closest to Mississippi 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 Mississippi

Mississippi has a growing page for 1,034 plants — a rotating sample of the rest of the shelf.

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