Piney, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Piney, 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 Piney 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 Piney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Piney — the short answer
Piney, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 260 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~260
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Piney's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Piney's 260-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Piney
Each reading below is measured for Piney itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPiney runs about 260 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredPiney 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 Piney is in
Piney sits in the Ouachita Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Piney's own centroid rather than borrowed from Garland County.
What Grows in Piney
Every plant below cleared Piney's own zone 8a and its 260-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Piney?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 21 — 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 Piney
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Piney. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AHTD-HOT SPRINGS HEADQUARTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- CHATHERINE S. ANDERSON TTEEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- EZ MART #4440Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- VANDERGRIFF'S PINEY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- HARP'S FOOD STORE #391Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- ROAD RUNNER #123Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SHERWIN WILLIAMS AUTO FINISHESBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- IDEAL BREAD COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- ALFORD, JIMMIEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- MARINA IUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- ARKANSAS STATE POLICE TROOP KUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- THE SAND BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Piney'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 Piney.
Total Sites
371
within ~10 miles of Piney
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
12 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Piney
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Piney
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Piney, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 267 sites within ~10 miles of Piney. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Piney
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 Piney average
Your land is one point inside Piney
Everything above resolves to Piney as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 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 Piney Average
Piney Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Piney
- ●One soil character for all of Piney
- ●Frost dates read at Piney's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Piney's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Piney
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Piney, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Piney averages can't show:
We read public map data around Piney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Piney average
How we know this about Piney
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 Piney’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 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 Piney
When does frost risk typically end in Piney?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Piney typically lands around Mar 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Piney?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Piney typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 260 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Piney?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Piney sees about 260 frost-free days — roughly Mar 6 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 27 to Nov 7, about 225 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Piney?
The federal record around Piney is a meaningful one — 371 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (267), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Piney?
From about Oct 22 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Piney's scale — its 8a band and its 260-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Piney'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 Piney’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Piney's own scale — its own ~260-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,164 acres it covers and 371 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Piney's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Piney's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 6 and Nov 21 and the ~260-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 371 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Piney, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Piney's boundary and the 4,164 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~260-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Piney's own centroid, the Ouachita MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Piney's 4,164 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Garland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Garland 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 Garland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Piney's 4,164 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Piney you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,164 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Piney-wide figureread your own land →
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