Arkansas City, Arkansas, 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.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Arkansas City, 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 Arkansas City 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 Arkansas City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Arkansas City — the short answer
Arkansas City, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 280 days between hard freezes, across 315 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Desha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Desha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~280
- Desha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 315 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 Desha County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Arkansas City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Arkansas City's 280-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Arkansas City
Each reading below is measured for Arkansas City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsArkansas City runs about 280 days between hard freezes (read from Desha County, the closest normal to Arkansas City) — 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
MeasuredArkansas City 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 Arkansas City is in
Arkansas City sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Arkansas City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Desha County.
What Grows in Arkansas City
Every plant below cleared Arkansas City's own zone 8b and its 280-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Arkansas City?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Arkansas City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Arkansas City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARKANSAS CITY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- DESHA COUNTY SHERIFF DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 12S01W33CDA1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 12S01W28CDA1Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 12S01W31AAB2Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 12S01W20DDD1Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 12S01W30ACB1Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- 12S02W25DAA1Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- 13S01W07CBC1Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- TRANSMONTAIGNE OPERATING COMPANY, LP - ARKANSAS CITY TERMINALBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- 12S02W35DDC1Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- 12S02W13AAA1Nitrate · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Arkansas City'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 Arkansas City.
Total Sites
64
within ~10 miles of Arkansas City
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Arkansas City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Arkansas City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Arkansas City, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 46 sites within ~10 miles of Arkansas City. 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).
Check your specific parcel in Arkansas City
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 Arkansas City average
Your land is one point inside Arkansas City
Everything above resolves to Arkansas City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 315 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Desha 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 Arkansas City Average
Arkansas City Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Arkansas City
- ●One soil character for all of Arkansas City
- ●Frost dates read at Arkansas City's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Arkansas City's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Arkansas City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Arkansas City, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Arkansas City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Arkansas City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Arkansas City average
How we know this about Arkansas City
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 Desha 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 Arkansas City
When does frost risk typically end in Arkansas City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Arkansas City typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Arkansas City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Arkansas City typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 280 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Arkansas City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Arkansas City sees about 280 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 13, about 245 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Arkansas City?
The federal record around Arkansas City shows 64 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (46), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Arkansas City?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Arkansas City's scale — its 8b band and its 280-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Arkansas City'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 Arkansas City’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Arkansas City's own scale — the 315 acres it covers and 64 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Arkansas City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 64 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Arkansas City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Arkansas City's boundary and the 315 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~280-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Arkansas City's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Arkansas City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Desha County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Arkansas City's 315 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Desha County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Desha 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 Desha County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Arkansas City's 315 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Arkansas City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 315 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Arkansas City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Arkansas
Growing region