McNeil, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in McNeil, 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 McNeil 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 McNeil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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McNeil — the short answer
McNeil, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 267 days between hard freezes, across 812 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
- 812 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 McNeil's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against McNeil's 267-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in McNeil
Each reading below is measured for McNeil itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMcNeil runs about 267 days between hard freezes (read from Columbia County, the closest normal to McNeil) — 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
MeasuredMcNeil 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 McNeil is in
McNeil sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at McNeil's own centroid rather than borrowed from Columbia County.
What Grows in McNeil
Every plant below cleared McNeil'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 McNeil?
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 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near McNeil
Closest first, within ~10 miles of McNeil. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LOGOLY STATE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- MCNEIL LION STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- 16S20W18DBD1Nitrate · 950 ft
- DIFFEE'S EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MCNEIL SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- 16S20W17BCB1Nitrate · 1800 ft
- AHTD ABANDONEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 16S20W17BBC1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- SCOTT GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EVERETT PLATING, INC.Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- 16S20W16BDC2Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- WALDO LION STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from McNeil'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 McNeil.
Total Sites
243
within ~10 miles of McNeil
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
15 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of McNeil
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of McNeil
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around McNeil, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 15 sites within ~10 miles of McNeil. 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 McNeil
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 McNeil average
Your land is one point inside McNeil
Everything above resolves to McNeil as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 812 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 McNeil Average
McNeil Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across McNeil
- ●One soil character for all of McNeil
- ●Frost dates read at McNeil's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not McNeil's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in McNeil
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in McNeil, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that McNeil averages can't show:
We read public map data around McNeil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McNeil average
How we know this about McNeil
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 McNeil
When does frost risk typically end in McNeil?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in McNeil 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 McNeil?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in McNeil 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 McNeil?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, McNeil 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 McNeil?
The federal record around McNeil is a meaningful one — 243 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (147), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 McNeil?
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 McNeil's scale — its 8b band and its 267-day season. Your yard writes its own version of McNeil'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 McNeil’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at McNeil's own scale — the 812 acres it covers and 243 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- McNeil's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 243 documented contamination sites on the federal record near McNeil, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- McNeil's boundary and the 812 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 McNeil's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — McNeil 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 McNeil's 812 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 McNeil's 812 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of McNeil you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 812 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 McNeil-wide figureread your own land →