Magnolia, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Magnolia, 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 Magnolia 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 Magnolia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Magnolia — the short answer
Magnolia, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 267 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~267
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Columbia County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Magnolia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Magnolia's 267-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Magnolia
Each reading below is measured for Magnolia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMagnolia runs about 267 days between hard freezes (read from Columbia County, the closest normal to Magnolia) — 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
MeasuredMagnolia 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 Magnolia is in
Magnolia sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Magnolia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Columbia County.
What Grows in Magnolia
Every plant below cleared Magnolia's own zone 8b and its 267-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Magnolia?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — 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 Magnolia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Magnolia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MILLER PLUMBING AND HEATINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- ROGER WILSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- IVY'S EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- MAGNOLIA SCHOOL DIST #14Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- 17S21W12AAA1Nitrate · 2000 ft
- WILSON EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- KMART #9681Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SUMMIT UTILITIES ARKANSAS, INC.Brownfields · 2500 ft
- SAYS INC EMERGENCY SHELTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WOOD'S COLLEGE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MILLER, CYRILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CAPTIAN VIDEO #2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Magnolia'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 Magnolia.
Total Sites
237
within ~10 miles of Magnolia
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
15 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Magnolia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Magnolia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Magnolia, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 15 sites within ~10 miles of Magnolia. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Magnolia
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 Magnolia average
Your land is one point inside Magnolia
Everything above resolves to Magnolia as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Columbia 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 Magnolia Average
Magnolia Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Magnolia
- ●One soil character for all of Magnolia
- ●Frost dates read at Magnolia's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Magnolia's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Magnolia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Magnolia, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Magnolia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Magnolia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Magnolia average
How we know this about Magnolia
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 Columbia 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 Magnolia
When does frost risk typically end in Magnolia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Magnolia typically lands around Feb 28, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Magnolia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Magnolia typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 267 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Magnolia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Magnolia sees about 267 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 8, about 232 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Magnolia?
The federal record around Magnolia is a meaningful one — 237 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (141), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles 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 Magnolia?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Magnolia's scale — its 8b band and its 267-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Magnolia'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 Magnolia’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Magnolia's own scale — the 8,468 acres it covers and 237 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Magnolia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 237 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Magnolia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Magnolia's boundary and the 8,468 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~267-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Magnolia's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Magnolia has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Columbia County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Magnolia's 8,468 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Columbia County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Columbia 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 Columbia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Magnolia's 8,468 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Magnolia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,468 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Magnolia-wide figureread your own land →