Benton, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — 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.
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Benton — the short answer
Benton, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 15K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~266
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 15K 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
Zone 8a is Benton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Benton's 266-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
MeasuredBenton runs about 266 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
MeasuredBenton 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 Benton is in
Benton sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Benton's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Saline County is mostly Ouachita Mountains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Benton
Every plant below cleared Benton's own zone 8a and its 266-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas 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 Feb 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — 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.
- LAKE NORRELL MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- SATTERFIELD GULF #7Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- BENTON SHELL #79Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BIG LOTS 5163Brownfields · 1200 ft
- RAZORBACK CAR WASHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WAL-MART STORE #85Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- 102 WARD'S 66Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- FILL N CHILL LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- JIM'S 66Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- WARD WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- CONGO EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- DIAMOND SHAMROCK SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
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
301
within ~10 miles of Benton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
20 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 — Toxics Release Inventory (20 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (201 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
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 and one 28°F frost record, read across 15K 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 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 Benton Average
Benton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Benton
- ●One soil character for all of Benton
- ●Frost dates read at Benton's scale: Mar 2 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Benton's 8a
- ✓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, Arkansas — 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 city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Benton’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 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 Benton
When does frost risk typically end in Benton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Benton typically lands around Mar 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Benton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Benton typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 266 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Benton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Benton sees about 266 frost-free days — roughly Mar 2 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 23 to Nov 9, about 231 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Benton?
The federal record around Benton is a meaningful one — 301 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (201), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Benton?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Benton's scale — its 8a band and its 266-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
6 of the readings below were taken at Benton's own scale — its own ~266-day season between 28°F freezes, the 14,793 acres it covers and 301 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Benton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Benton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 2 and Nov 23 and the ~266-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 301 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Benton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Benton's boundary and the 14,793 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~266-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Benton sits in the South Central Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Benton's 14,793 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Saline County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Saline 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 Saline County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Benton's 14,793 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 14,793 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 Benton-wide figureread your own land →
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