Rosston, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Rosston, 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 Rosston 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 Rosston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rosston — the short answer
Rosston, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 260 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 4
- Nevada County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 19
- Nevada County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~260
- Nevada County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Nevada County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Rosston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rosston's 260-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rosston
Each reading below is measured for Rosston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRosston runs about 260 days between hard freezes (read from Nevada County, the closest normal to Rosston) — 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
MeasuredRosston 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 Rosston is in
Rosston sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rosston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Nevada County.
What Grows in Rosston
Every plant below cleared Rosston'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 Rosston?
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 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 19 — 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 Rosston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rosston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KOUNTRY KORNER MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- OAK GROVE SCHOOL CAMPUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- TJ'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- ROSSTON AUTO SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- 13S21W21CDA1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- NEVADA SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- THE ""Y"" COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- 13S21W23ABC1Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- CALE PUBLIC SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- 14S21W11ADB1Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- 14S21W18DAC1Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- ODELL & PAULA'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rosston'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 Rosston.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rosston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rosston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rosston, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of Rosston. 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 Rosston
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 Rosston average
Your land is one point inside Rosston
Everything above resolves to Rosston as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Nevada 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 Rosston Average
Rosston Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Rosston
- ●One soil character for all of Rosston
- ●Frost dates read at Rosston's scale: Mar 4 to Nov 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rosston's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rosston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rosston, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rosston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rosston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rosston average
How we know this about Rosston
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 Nevada 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 Rosston
When does frost risk typically end in Rosston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rosston typically lands around Mar 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Rosston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rosston typically arrives around Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 5, so the watching starts about Oct 20 — about 260 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rosston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rosston sees about 260 frost-free days — roughly Mar 4 through Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 25 to Nov 5, about 225 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rosston?
The federal record around Rosston is light — 39 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 Rosston?
From about Oct 20 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rosston's scale — its 8a band and its 260-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rosston'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 Rosston’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rosston's own scale — the 2,829 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rosston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rosston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rosston's boundary and the 2,829 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 Rosston's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rosston has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Nevada County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rosston's 2,829 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Nevada County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Nevada 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 Nevada County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rosston's 2,829 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rosston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,829 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 Rosston-wide figureread your own land →
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