Top-of-the-World, Arizona, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect jalapeno, prickly pear, palo verde, and date palm to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Top-of-the-World, 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 Top-of-the-World 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 Top-of-the-World — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Top-of-the-World — the short answer
Top-of-the-World, Arizona: USDA zone 8a, about 327 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 23
- Pinal County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 16
- Pinal County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~327
- Pinal County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Pinal County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Top-of-the-World's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Top-of-the-World's 327-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Top-of-the-World
Each reading below is measured for Top-of-the-World itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTop-of-the-World runs about 327 days between hard freezes (read from Pinal County, the closest normal to Top-of-the-World) — 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
MeasuredTop-of-the-World sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Top-of-the-World is in
Top-of-the-World sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Temperate Sierras. That is read at Top-of-the-World's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Pinal County is mostly Sonoran Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Top-of-the-World
Plants matched to Top-of-the-World's USDA zones 8a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Top-of-the-World?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
Documented around Top-of-the-World
Survey cells within 31 miles of Top-of-the-World checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 357 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Top-of-the-World
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Top-of-the-World. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Clark ProspectMining · 0.8 mi
- Rainbow GroupMining · 0.8 mi
- Swede MineMining · 1.0 mi
- Santa Anna Copper ClaimsMining · 1.0 mi
- Cole Tungsten GroupMining · 1.1 mi
- AmericanMining · 1.3 mi
- Black BessMining · 1.4 mi
- American MineMining · 1.5 mi
- Bronx Copper PropertyMining · 1.5 mi
- Crenshaw PropertyMining · 1.7 mi
- SnyderMining · 1.8 mi
- Bronx MineMining · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Top-of-the-World'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 Top-of-the-World.
Total Sites
206
within ~10 miles of Top-of-the-World
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Top-of-the-World
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Top-of-the-World
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Top-of-the-World, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Top-of-the-World — Mining (153 sites) and Superfund (5 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Top-of-the-World
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 Top-of-the-World average
Your land is one point inside Top-of-the-World
Everything above resolves to Top-of-the-World as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pinal 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 Top-of-the-World Average
Top-of-the-World Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Top-of-the-World
- ●One soil character for all of Top-of-the-World
- ●Frost dates read at Top-of-the-World's scale: Jan 23 to Dec 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Top-of-the-World's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Top-of-the-World
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Top-of-the-World, Arizona — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Top-of-the-World averages can't show:
We read public map data around Top-of-the-World — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Top-of-the-World average
How we know this about Top-of-the-World
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 Pinal 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 Top-of-the-World
When does frost risk typically end in Top-of-the-World?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Top-of-the-World typically lands around Jan 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 Feb 13.
When is the first frost in Top-of-the-World?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Top-of-the-World typically arrives around Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 2, so the watching starts about Nov 16 — about 327 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Top-of-the-World?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Top-of-the-World sees about 327 frost-free days — roughly Jan 23 through Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 13 to Dec 2, about 292 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Top-of-the-World?
The federal record around Top-of-the-World runs heavier than most — 206 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (153), the nearest Mining record about 0.8 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Top-of-the-World?
From about Nov 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Top-of-the-World's scale — its 8a band and its 327-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Top-of-the-World'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 Top-of-the-World’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Top-of-the-World's own scale — the 3,880 acres it covers and 206 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Top-of-the-World's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 206 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Top-of-the-World, the closest Mining record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Top-of-the-World's boundary and the 3,880 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Top-of-the-World sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Top-of-the-World checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Top-of-the-World has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pinal County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Top-of-the-World's 3,880 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pinal County
- The candidate plant list — Arizona's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Arizona
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pinal County
- The growing challenges every Arizona grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arizona
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Pinal County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Top-of-the-World's 3,880 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Top-of-the-World you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,880 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 0.8 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 Top-of-the-World-wide figureread your own land →
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