Hope, 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.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hope, 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 Hope 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 Hope — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hope — the short answer
Hope, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 260 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 4
- Hempstead County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 19
- Hempstead County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~260
- Hempstead County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Hempstead County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Hope's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hope's 260-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hope
Each reading below is measured for Hope itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHope runs about 260 days between hard freezes (read from Hempstead County, the closest normal to Hope) — 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
MeasuredHope 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 Hope is in
Hope sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hope's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hempstead County.
What Grows in Hope
Every plant below cleared Hope's own zone 8a and its 260-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hope?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 19 — 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 Hope
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hope. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EARLE'S PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- MANN'S EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- CALVIN'S AUTO SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- GREYHOUND BUS LINESUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- STEPHENS GROCER COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- MORTON'S TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- FINA OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- KELLAM VILLAGE CHEVRON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- SBR ETCHINGS INCBrownfields · 750 ft
- CROWN FOOD MART 149Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- MCCORKLE TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- HOPE HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hope'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 Hope.
Total Sites
242
within ~10 miles of Hope
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hope
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hope
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hope, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hope — Nitrate (88 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (16 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Hope
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 Hope average
Your land is one point inside Hope
Everything above resolves to Hope as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hempstead 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 Hope Average
Hope Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Hope
- ●One soil character for all of Hope
- ●Frost dates read at Hope's scale: Mar 4 to Nov 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hope's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hope
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hope, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hope averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hope — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hope average
How we know this about Hope
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 Hempstead 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 Hope
When does frost risk typically end in Hope?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hope typically lands around Mar 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Hope?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hope typically arrives around Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 5, so the watching starts about Oct 20 — about 260 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hope?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hope sees about 260 frost-free days — roughly Mar 4 through Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 25 to Nov 5, about 225 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hope?
The federal record around Hope is a meaningful one — 242 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (114), 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 Hope?
From about Oct 20 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hope's scale — its 8a band and its 260-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hope'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 Hope’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hope's own scale — the 6,838 acres it covers and 242 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hope's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 242 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hope, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hope's boundary and the 6,838 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~260-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hope's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hope has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hempstead County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hope's 6,838 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hempstead County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hempstead 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 Hempstead County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hope's 6,838 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hope you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,838 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 Hope-wide figureread your own land →