Scott, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Scott, 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 Scott 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 Scott — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Scott — the short answer
Scott, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 Scott's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Scott's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Scott
Each reading below is measured for Scott itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredScott runs about 277 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
MeasuredScott 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 Scott is in
Scott sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Scott's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lonoke County.
What Grows in Scott
Every plant below cleared Scott's own zone 8a and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Scott?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Scott
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Scott. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 01N10W21BCB1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- MARTIN'S COUNTRY MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 01N10W16CAC1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 01N10W33BAA1Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- BAUCUM CORNER CAFE & BAIT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 01N11W25AAD2Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- ECOTECH ENTERPRISES, INCToxics Release Inventory · 2.5 mi
- 01N11W24ACD2Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- CRAIG PLANTING COMPANY, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- SCOTT JR. HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- DAVID D. TERRY LOCK & DAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- 01S10W03AAA1Nitrate · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Scott'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 Scott.
Total Sites
603
within ~10 miles of Scott
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Scott
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Scott
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Scott, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 46 sites within ~10 miles of Scott. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Scott
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 Scott average
Your land is one point inside Scott
Everything above resolves to Scott 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 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 Scott Average
Scott Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Scott
- ●One soil character for all of Scott
- ●Frost dates read at Scott's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Scott's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Scott
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Scott, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Scott averages can't show:
We read public map data around Scott — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Scott average
How we know this about Scott
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 Scott’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 Scott
When does frost risk typically end in Scott?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Scott typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Scott?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Scott typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Scott?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Scott sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 16, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Scott?
The federal record around Scott is a meaningful one — 603 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (322), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Scott?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Scott's scale — its 8a band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Scott'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 Scott’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Scott's own scale — its own ~277-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,024 acres it covers and 603 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Scott's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Scott's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Feb 26 and Nov 30 and the ~277-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 603 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Scott, the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Scott's boundary and the 2,024 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Scott's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Scott's 2,024 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lonoke County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lonoke 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 Lonoke County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Scott's 2,024 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Scott you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,024 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Scott-wide figureread your own land →
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