Oppelo, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Oppelo, 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 Oppelo 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 Oppelo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oppelo — the short answer
Oppelo, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 239 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~239
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Oppelo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oppelo's 239-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oppelo
Each reading below is measured for Oppelo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOppelo runs about 239 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredOppelo 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 Oppelo is in
Oppelo sits in the Arkansas Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Oppelo's own centroid rather than borrowed from Conway County.
What Grows in Oppelo
Every plant below cleared Oppelo's own zone 8a and its 239-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oppelo?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Oppelo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oppelo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BIG STAR EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- OPPELO EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- AZ FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- E & M SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- US ARMY CORPS ENG-ARTHUR V ORMBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- 05N17W13AAA1Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- VACANT (J.D. NORWOOD'S MART)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- GREEN BAY PACKAGINGBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- GREEN BAY PACKAGINGToxics Release Inventory · 2.0 mi
- 06N16W31CBB1Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- 06N16W31BCC1Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- 06N17W26CCD2Nitrate · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oppelo'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 Oppelo.
Total Sites
265
within ~10 miles of Oppelo
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oppelo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oppelo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oppelo, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 146 sites within ~10 miles of Oppelo. 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 Oppelo
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 Oppelo average
Your land is one point inside Oppelo
Everything above resolves to Oppelo as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K acres. 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 Oppelo Average
Oppelo Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Oppelo
- ●One soil character for all of Oppelo
- ●Frost dates read at Oppelo's scale: Mar 17 to Nov 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oppelo's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oppelo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oppelo, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oppelo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oppelo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oppelo average
How we know this about Oppelo
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 Oppelo’s own record; 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 Oppelo
When does frost risk typically end in Oppelo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oppelo typically lands around Mar 17, 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 Apr 7.
When is the first frost in Oppelo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oppelo typically arrives around Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 28, so the watching starts about Oct 12 — about 239 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oppelo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oppelo sees about 239 frost-free days — roughly Mar 17 through Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 7 to Oct 28, about 204 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oppelo?
The federal record around Oppelo is a meaningful one — 265 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (146), 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 Oppelo?
From about Oct 12 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Oppelo's scale — its 8a band and its 239-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oppelo'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 Oppelo’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Oppelo's own scale — its own ~239-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,578 acres it covers and 265 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oppelo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Oppelo's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 17 and Nov 11 and the ~239-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 265 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oppelo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oppelo's boundary and the 1,578 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~239-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oppelo's own centroid, the Arkansas ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oppelo's 1,578 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Conway County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Conway 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 Conway County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oppelo's 1,578 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oppelo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,578 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 Oppelo-wide figureread your own land →
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