Ozark, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ozark, 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 Ozark 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 Ozark — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Ozark — the short answer
Ozark, Alabama: USDA zone 9a, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 22K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Dale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Dale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- Dale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 22K 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 Dale County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Ozark's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ozark's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ozark
Each reading below is measured for Ozark itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOzark runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from Dale County, the closest normal to Ozark) — 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
MeasuredOzark 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 Ozark is in
Ozark sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ozark's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dale County.
What Grows in Ozark
Every plant below cleared Ozark's own zone 9a and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ozark?
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 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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 Ozark
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ozark. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Well F 16 OZARK PWS 1 312723085384201 Dale CntyNitrate · 1400 ft
- WALLACE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CANNON OIL CORP #16Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- WALTER HAND MOTOR CO., INC.Brownfields · 1900 ft
- JAMES M O'STEENUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- SOUTH UNION GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- DICKSON ENTERPRISE OF ALUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- BROWN MANUFACTURING CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- HARLAN FARMERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- PHILLIPS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- ZIPPY MART AL 610Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- BARNES TIRE & SUPPLYBrownfields · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ozark'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 Ozark.
Total Sites
169
within ~10 miles of Ozark
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ozark
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ozark
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ozark, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Ozark. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Ozark
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 Ozark average
Your land is one point inside Ozark
Everything above resolves to Ozark as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 22K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dale 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 Ozark Average
Ozark Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Ozark
- ●One soil character for all of Ozark
- ●Frost dates read at Ozark's scale: Feb 15 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ozark's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ozark
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ozark, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ozark averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ozark — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ozark average
How we know this about Ozark
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 Dale 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 Ozark
When does frost risk typically end in Ozark?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ozark typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Ozark?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ozark typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ozark?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ozark sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 19, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ozark?
The federal record around Ozark shows 169 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (92), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Ozark?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ozark's scale — its 9a band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ozark'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 Ozark’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ozark's own scale — the 21,828 acres it covers and 169 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ozark's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 169 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ozark, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ozark's boundary and the 21,828 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ozark's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ozark has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dale County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ozark's 21,828 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dale County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dale 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 Dale County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ozark's 21,828 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ozark you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 21,828 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Ozark-wide figureread your own land →
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