Mount Holly, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Mount Holly, 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 Mount Holly 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 Mount Holly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Mount Holly — the short answer
Mount Holly, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 27
- Union County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Union County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- Union County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Union County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Mount Holly's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mount Holly's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mount Holly
Each reading below is measured for Mount Holly itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMount Holly runs about 269 days between hard freezes (read from Union County, the closest normal to Mount Holly) — 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
MeasuredMount Holly 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 Mount Holly is in
Mount Holly sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mount Holly's own centroid rather than borrowed from Union County.
What Grows in Mount Holly
Every plant below cleared Mount Holly's own zone 8b and its 269-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mount Holly?
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 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — 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 Mount Holly
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mount Holly. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MOUNT HOLLY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- MOUNT HOLLY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- WALTER SMITH LIME COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- 15S18W36AAA1Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- VILLAGE ONE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- 15S18W30BBD1Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- 17S19W15BDC1Nitrate · 7.7 mi
- ALBEMARLE CORP-EAST PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 8.4 mi
- 17S19W18CDB1Nitrate · 8.4 mi
- 15S19W22BDB1Nitrate · 8.4 mi
- 16S17W02ABA1Nitrate · 8.4 mi
- PACE CITY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mount Holly'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 Mount Holly.
Total Sites
42
within ~10 miles of Mount Holly
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mount Holly
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mount Holly
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mount Holly, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Mount Holly — Nitrate (24 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites). 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.
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 Mount Holly
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 Mount Holly average
Your land is one point inside Mount Holly
Everything above resolves to Mount Holly as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Union County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Mount Holly Average
Mount Holly Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Mount Holly
- ●One soil character for all of Mount Holly
- ●Frost dates read at Mount Holly's scale: Feb 27 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mount Holly's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mount Holly
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mount Holly, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mount Holly averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mount Holly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mount Holly average
How we know this about Mount Holly
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Union 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Mount Holly
When does frost risk typically end in Mount Holly?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mount Holly typically lands around Feb 27, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Mount Holly?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mount Holly typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 269 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mount Holly?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mount Holly sees about 269 frost-free days — roughly Feb 27 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 20 to Nov 9, about 234 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mount Holly?
The federal record around Mount Holly is light — 42 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Mount Holly?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mount Holly's scale — its 8b band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mount Holly'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 Mount Holly’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mount Holly's own scale — the 1,787 acres it covers and 42 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mount Holly's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 42 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mount Holly, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mount Holly's boundary and the 1,787 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~269-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mount Holly's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mount Holly has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Union County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mount Holly's 1,787 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Union County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Union 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 Union County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mount Holly's 1,787 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mount Holly you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,787 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Mount Holly-wide figureread your own land →