Taylor, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Taylor, 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 Taylor 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 Taylor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Taylor — the short answer
Taylor, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 267 days between hard freezes, across 636 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~267
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 636 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 Columbia County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Taylor's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Taylor's 267-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Taylor
Each reading below is measured for Taylor itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTaylor runs about 267 days between hard freezes (read from Columbia County, the closest normal to Taylor) — 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
MeasuredTaylor 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 Taylor is in
Taylor sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Taylor's own centroid rather than borrowed from Columbia County.
What Grows in Taylor
Every plant below cleared Taylor's own zone 8b and its 267-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Taylor?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 22 — 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 Taylor
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Taylor. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EMERSON SERVICE CENTER LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- J. S. NIXUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- C & R AFFILIATED FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- 19S23W11CDA2Nitrate · 1000 ft
- 19S23W11CDA1Nitrate · 1000 ft
- OXY USA INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- TAYLOR 66Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- HARRIS GENERAL GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- PARK HUNSINGER RENTALSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- THOMPSON SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- TAYLOR PUBLIC SCHOOLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- WALKER CREEK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Taylor'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 Taylor.
Total Sites
173
within ~10 miles of Taylor
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Taylor
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Taylor
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Taylor, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 54 sites within ~10 miles of Taylor. 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 Taylor
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 Taylor average
Your land is one point inside Taylor
Everything above resolves to Taylor as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 636 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Columbia County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 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 Taylor Average
Taylor Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Taylor
- ●One soil character for all of Taylor
- ●Frost dates read at Taylor's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Taylor's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Taylor
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Taylor, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Taylor averages can't show:
We read public map data around Taylor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Taylor average
How we know this about Taylor
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 Columbia 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 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 Taylor
When does frost risk typically end in Taylor?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Taylor 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 Taylor?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Taylor typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 267 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Taylor?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Taylor sees about 267 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 8, about 232 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Taylor?
The federal record around Taylor shows 173 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (85), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Taylor?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Taylor's scale — its 8b band and its 267-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Taylor'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 Taylor’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Taylor's own scale — the 636 acres it covers and 173 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Taylor's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 173 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Taylor, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Taylor's boundary and the 636 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~267-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Taylor's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Taylor has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Columbia County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Taylor's 636 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Columbia County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Columbia 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 Columbia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Taylor's 636 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Taylor you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 636 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Taylor-wide figureread your own land →