What Grows in Alicia, Arkansas

USDA Zones 8a · 276 acres

Alicia, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.

Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Alicia, 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 Alicia 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 Alicia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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Alicia — the short answer

Alicia, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 276 acres of town.

USDA zone
8a
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Mar 8
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Nov 24
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~261
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Town area
276 acres
US Census TIGER/Line 2025

Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.

Hardiness Zone Range

8a8a
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 8a is Alicia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alicia's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Alicia

Each reading below is measured for Alicia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Alicia runs about 261 days between hard freezes — 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

Measured

Alicia 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 Alicia is in

Alicia sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Alicia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lawrence County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Alicia

Every plant below cleared Alicia's own zone 8a and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in ArkansasZones 2–11Alicia's 8a — 6 zones of cold margin.
fig, photograph
Arkansas fig guideZones 6–10Alicia's 8a — 2 zones of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in ArkansasZones 6–10Alicia's 8a — 2 zones of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Arkansas growing notesZones 2–11Alicia's 8a — 6 zones of cold margin.
prickly pear, photograph
Growing prickly pear in ArkansasZones 5–10Alicia's 8a — 3 zones of cold margin.
lavender, photograph
Arkansas lavender guideZones 5–8Alicia's 8a — 3 zones of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in ArkansasZones 2–10Alicia's 8a — 6 zones of cold margin.
grape, photograph
Grape: Arkansas growing notesZones 6–9Alicia's 8a — 2 zones of cold margin.
rosemary, photograph
Growing rosemary in ArkansasZones 8–10Alicia's 8a is its exact cold limit.
kale, photograph
Arkansas kale guideZones 2–11Alicia's 8a — 6 zones of cold margin.
hazelnut, photograph
Hazelnut in ArkansasZones 4–9Alicia's 8a — 4 zones of cold margin.
lentil, photograph
Lentil: Arkansas growing notesZones 2–11Alicia's 261 days clear the ~70 it needs.
loquat, photograph
Growing loquat in ArkansasZones 7–10Alicia's 8a — 1 zone of cold margin.
okra, photograph
Arkansas okra guideZones 2–12Alicia's 261 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Potato in ArkansasZones 2–11Alicia's 8a — 6 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Arkansas growing notesZones 3–10Alicia's 8a — 5 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in ArkansasZones 2–11Alicia's 261 days clear the ~70 it needs.
Apache plume, photograph
Arkansas apache plume guideZones 5–11Alicia's 8a — 3 zones of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in ArkansasZones 3–8Alicia's 8a — 5 zones of cold margin.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Arkansas growing notesZones 3–8Alicia's 8a — 5 zones of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in ArkansasAlicia's 261 days clear the ~50 it needs.
holly, photograph
Arkansas holly guideZones 5–11Alicia's 8a — 3 zones of cold margin.
Carolina jessamine, photograph
Carolina jessamine in ArkansasZones 7–10Alicia's 8a — 1 zone of cold margin.
tulip, photograph
Tulip: Arkansas growing notesZones 6–8Alicia's 8a — 2 zones of cold margin.
Douglas fir, photograph
Growing douglas fir in ArkansasZones 4–10Alicia's 8a — 4 zones of cold margin.
Ethiopian mustard, photograph
Arkansas ethiopian mustard guideZones 4–10Alicia's 8a — 4 zones of cold margin.
ajuga, photograph
Ajuga in ArkansasZones 5–11Alicia's 8a — 3 zones of cold margin.
redbud, photograph
Redbud: Arkansas growing notesZones 5–11Alicia's 8a — 3 zones of cold margin.
Japanese millet, photograph
Growing japanese millet in ArkansasZones 5–10Alicia's 261 days clear the ~45 it needs.
blue grama, photograph
Arkansas blue grama guideZones 3–10Alicia's 261 days clear the ~90 it needs.

Is it too late to plant in Alicia?

Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.

What's on the federal record near Alicia

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Alicia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. ALLEN, ALICIA, FARMS INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
  2. ARNOLD & JACOBS FARMS LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
  3. CORBETT FARMS INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
  4. CORBETT, STANLEY FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
  5. DUNCAN, PATUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
  6. JACK'S GULF STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
  7. 15N01W19DCC1Nitrate · 3.1 mi
  8. 14N01W13BBB1Nitrate · 3.1 mi
  9. 14N01W19CDA1Nitrate · 5.0 mi
  10. SOUTHLAND AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
  11. FLASH MARKET #395Underground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
  12. DISCOUNT PLUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Alicia'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 Alicia.

Total Sites

33

within ~10 miles of Alicia

Risk Level

Low

Highest-severity

1 brownfield site

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Alicia

High0Moderate20Low13

Highest-Severity Sites

15n01e13ccc1
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
15n01e13ccc1
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
15n01w03bab2
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
15n01w03bab2
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
15n01w19dcc1
Nitrate Monitoring · Well

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Alicia, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 16 sites within ~10 miles of Alicia. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.

Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.

Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Alicia

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 Alicia average

Your land is one point inside Alicia

Everything above resolves to Alicia as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 276 acres. 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 Alicia Average

Alicia Average

  • USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Alicia
  • One soil character for all of Alicia
  • Frost dates read at Alicia's scale: Mar 8 to Nov 24

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Alicia's 8a
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Alicia

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alicia, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Alicia averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Alicia averages 261Your sun & shade

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

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alicia average

How we know this about Alicia

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 Alicia’s own record; 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 Alicia

When does frost risk typically end in Alicia?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alicia typically lands around Mar 8, 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 29.

When is the first frost in Alicia?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Alicia typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Alicia?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alicia sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 8 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 29 to Nov 10, about 226 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alicia?

The federal record around Alicia is light — 33 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (16), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.

How do I protect my plants from frost in Alicia?

From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Alicia's scale — its 8a band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alicia'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 Alicia’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at Alicia's own scale — its own ~261-day season between 28°F freezes, the 276 acres it covers and 33 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Alicia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Alicia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 8 and Nov 24 and the ~261-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 33 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Alicia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Alicia's boundary and the 276 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Alicia's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Alicia's 276 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lawrence County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lawrence County
  • The growing challenges every Arkansas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arkansas
  • Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lawrence County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alicia's 276 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Alicia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 276 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Alicia-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address