North Crossett, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in North Crossett, 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 North Crossett 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 North Crossett — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
North Crossett — the short answer
North Crossett, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 268 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Ashley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Ashley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~268
- Ashley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Ashley County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is North Crossett's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Crossett's 268-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Crossett
Each reading below is measured for North Crossett itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNorth Crossett runs about 268 days between hard freezes (read from Ashley County, the closest normal to North Crossett) — 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
MeasuredNorth Crossett 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 North Crossett is in
North Crossett sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at North Crossett's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ashley County.
What Grows in North Crossett
Every plant below cleared North Crossett's own zone 8b and its 268-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Crossett?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 23 — 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 North Crossett
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Crossett. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DEAN OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- P & D ONE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- COOPER DONUT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EZ MART #4289Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- JIFFY J STORES, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ASHLEY MOTOR COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- POPE AUTO SUPPLY COBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- UAM COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MURPHYS AUTO BODY & FRAMEBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- NORTH CROSSETT CITGOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- V & P GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- DEAN'S FULL SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Crossett'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 North Crossett.
Total Sites
156
within ~10 miles of North Crossett
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Crossett
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Crossett
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Crossett, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 44 sites within ~10 miles of North Crossett. 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 North Crossett
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 North Crossett average
Your land is one point inside North Crossett
Everything above resolves to North Crossett as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Ashley 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 North Crossett Average
North Crossett Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across North Crossett
- ●One soil character for all of North Crossett
- ●Frost dates read at North Crossett's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Crossett's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Crossett
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Crossett, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Crossett averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Crossett — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Crossett average
How we know this about North Crossett
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 Ashley 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 North Crossett
When does frost risk typically end in North Crossett?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Crossett 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 North Crossett?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Crossett 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 268 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Crossett?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Crossett sees about 268 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 9, about 233 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Crossett?
The federal record around North Crossett shows 156 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (92), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in North Crossett?
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 North Crossett's scale — its 8b band and its 268-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Crossett'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 North Crossett’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at North Crossett's own scale — the 6,677 acres it covers and 156 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Crossett's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 156 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Crossett, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Crossett's boundary and the 6,677 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~268-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Crossett's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — North Crossett has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Ashley County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Crossett's 6,677 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ashley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ashley 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 Ashley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Crossett's 6,677 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Crossett you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,677 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 North Crossett-wide figureread your own land →