Bradley, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Bradley, 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 Bradley 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 Bradley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bradley — the short answer
Bradley, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 584 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 1
- Lafayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 20
- Lafayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Lafayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 584 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 Lafayette County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Bradley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bradley's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bradley
Each reading below is measured for Bradley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBradley runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Lafayette County, the closest normal to Bradley) — 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
MeasuredBradley 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 Bradley is in
Bradley sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bradley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lafayette County.
What Grows in Bradley
Every plant below cleared Bradley's own zone 8b and its 264-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bradley?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 20 — 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 Bradley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bradley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BRADLEY SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- BAKERS BROTHERS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- BRADLEY CITY HALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- STOP N SHOP OF BRADLEY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- CASON, TOM E.Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- EDD'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- ALLEN, CHARLES G. CONTRACTINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 19S25W13CDD1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- ROGERS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- D & L GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- EASY MART BRADLEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- CRYER GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bradley'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 Bradley.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bradley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bradley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bradley, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Bradley. 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 Bradley
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 Bradley average
Your land is one point inside Bradley
Everything above resolves to Bradley as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 584 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lafayette 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 Bradley Average
Bradley Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Bradley
- ●One soil character for all of Bradley
- ●Frost dates read at Bradley's scale: Mar 1 to Nov 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bradley's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bradley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bradley, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bradley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bradley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bradley average
How we know this about Bradley
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 Lafayette 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 Bradley
When does frost risk typically end in Bradley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bradley typically lands around Mar 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Bradley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bradley typically arrives around Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 6, so the watching starts about Oct 21 — about 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bradley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bradley sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 1 through Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 22 to Nov 6, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bradley?
The federal record around Bradley is light — 43 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Bradley?
From about Oct 21 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bradley's scale — its 8b band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bradley'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 Bradley’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bradley's own scale — the 584 acres it covers and 43 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bradley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 43 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bradley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bradley's boundary and the 584 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~264-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bradley's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bradley has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lafayette County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bradley's 584 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lafayette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lafayette 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 Lafayette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bradley's 584 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bradley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 584 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 Bradley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Arkansas
Nearby growing guides