Marianna, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Marianna, 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 Marianna 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 Marianna — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Marianna — the short answer
Marianna, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 273 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~273
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Lee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Marianna's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Marianna's 273-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Marianna
Each reading below is measured for Marianna itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMarianna runs about 273 days between hard freezes (read from Lee County, the closest normal to Marianna) — 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
MeasuredMarianna 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 Marianna is in
Marianna sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Marianna's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lee County.
What Grows in Marianna
Every plant below cleared Marianna's own zone 8a and its 273-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Marianna?
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 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 28 — 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 Marianna
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Marianna. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FONG, EDWARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- KEETING WELDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- US FOREST SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- THOMAS PETROLEUM, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- ARNOLD, J. T.Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- KENNY'S QUICKSTOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- 02N03E23BBB1Nitrate · 550 ft
- 02N03E14CCC2Nitrate · 600 ft
- FEDERAL COMPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- 02N03E14CCC3Nitrate · 750 ft
- ORVILL WILSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- DOUBLE QUICK #95Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Marianna'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 Marianna.
Total Sites
115
within ~10 miles of Marianna
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Marianna
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Marianna
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Marianna, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 42 sites within ~10 miles of Marianna. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Marianna
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 Marianna average
Your land is one point inside Marianna
Everything above resolves to Marianna as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lee 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 Marianna Average
Marianna Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Marianna
- ●One soil character for all of Marianna
- ●Frost dates read at Marianna's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Marianna's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Marianna
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Marianna, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Marianna averages can't show:
We read public map data around Marianna — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Marianna average
How we know this about Marianna
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 Lee 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 Marianna
When does frost risk typically end in Marianna?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Marianna 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 Marianna?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Marianna typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 273 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Marianna?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Marianna sees about 273 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 14, about 238 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Marianna?
The federal record around Marianna is a meaningful one — 115 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (63), 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 Marianna?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Marianna's scale — its 8a band and its 273-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Marianna'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 Marianna’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Marianna's own scale — the 2,313 acres it covers and 115 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Marianna's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 115 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Marianna, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Marianna's boundary and the 2,313 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~273-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Marianna's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Marianna has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Marianna's 2,313 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lee 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 Lee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Marianna's 2,313 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Marianna you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,313 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 Marianna-wide figureread your own land →