Benton, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Benton, 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 Benton 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 Benton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Benton — the short answer
Benton, Alabama: USDA zone 8b, about 279 days between hard freezes, across 193 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Lowndes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Lowndes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~279
- Lowndes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 193 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 Lowndes County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Benton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Benton's 279-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Benton
Each reading below is measured for Benton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBenton runs about 279 days between hard freezes (read from Lowndes County, the closest normal to Benton) — 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
MeasuredBenton 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 Benton is in
Benton sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Benton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lowndes County.
What Grows in Benton
Every plant below cleared Benton's own zone 8b and its 279-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Benton?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (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. 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 Benton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Benton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WARREN OIL CO INCToxics Release Inventory · 1900 ft
- BARBARA'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Well E-3 STAGGERS AND BEERS Lowndes Cnty ALNitrate · 0.7 mi
- SALS CLOVER FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Well G-1 MRS. MARY T. WEBSTER Lowndes Cnty ALNitrate · 1.9 mi
- Well Y 1 321830086510201 Dallas County AlNitrate · 2.0 mi
- HWY 80 QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- SOUTH DALLAS WATER AUTHORITYPFAS · 2.1 mi
- LOWNDES COUNTY WATER SYSTEMPFAS · 2.1 mi
- LOGAN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- JONES BLUFF POWERHOUSEBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- Well M 8 321926086510201 Dallas County AlNitrate · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Benton'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 Benton.
Total Sites
55
within ~10 miles of Benton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Benton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Benton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Benton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Benton — PFAS (4 sites) and Nitrate (22 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Benton
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 Benton average
Your land is one point inside Benton
Everything above resolves to Benton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 193 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lowndes County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Benton Average
Benton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Benton
- ●One soil character for all of Benton
- ●Frost dates read at Benton's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Benton's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Benton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Benton, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Benton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Benton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Benton average
How we know this about Benton
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Lowndes 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Benton
When does frost risk typically end in Benton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Benton typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Benton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Benton 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 279 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Benton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Benton sees about 279 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 15, about 244 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Benton?
The federal record around Benton shows 55 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (22), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.4 miles 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 Benton?
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 Benton's scale — its 8b band and its 279-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Benton'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 Benton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Benton's own scale — the 193 acres it covers and 55 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Benton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 55 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Benton, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Benton's boundary and the 193 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~279-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Benton's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Benton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lowndes County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Benton's 193 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lowndes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lowndes County
- The growing challenges every Alabama grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alabama
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lowndes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Benton's 193 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Benton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 193 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.4 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 Benton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Growing region
Nearby growing guides