Tillar, 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.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tillar, 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 Tillar 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 Tillar — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tillar — the short answer
Tillar, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 502 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 24
- Drew County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Drew County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~278
- Drew County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 502 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 Drew County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Tillar's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tillar's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tillar
Each reading below is measured for Tillar itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTillar runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Drew County, the closest normal to Tillar) — 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
MeasuredTillar 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 Tillar is in
Tillar sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Tillar's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Drew County is mostly South Central Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Tillar
Every plant below cleared Tillar's own zone 8b and its 278-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tillar?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Tillar
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tillar. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 11S04W25DAA1Nitrate · 1000 ft
- 11S04W25DDB1Nitrate · 1300 ft
- GRESHAM TILLAR BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- LARRY RAIL DISTRIBUTING COMPANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- TILLAR HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- T & S PLANTING INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- PALSA BROTHERS FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- SHELBY APPLEBERRY JR.Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- 11S04W25ADA1Nitrate · 2600 ft
- 11S04W24BDD1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- SHERRY'S PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- LUCKY CHEV COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tillar'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 Tillar.
Total Sites
164
within ~10 miles of Tillar
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tillar
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tillar
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tillar, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 98 sites within ~10 miles of Tillar. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Tillar
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 Tillar average
Your land is one point inside Tillar
Everything above resolves to Tillar as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 502 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Drew 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 Tillar Average
Tillar Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Tillar
- ●One soil character for all of Tillar
- ●Frost dates read at Tillar's scale: Feb 24 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tillar's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tillar
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tillar, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tillar averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tillar — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tillar average
How we know this about Tillar
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 Drew 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 Tillar
When does frost risk typically end in Tillar?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tillar typically lands around Feb 24, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Tillar?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tillar typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 278 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tillar?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tillar sees about 278 frost-free days — roughly Feb 24 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 17 to Nov 15, about 243 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tillar?
The federal record around Tillar shows 164 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (98), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles 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 Tillar?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tillar's scale — its 8b band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tillar'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 Tillar’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Tillar's own scale — the 502 acres it covers and 164 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tillar's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 164 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tillar, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tillar's boundary and the 502 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Tillar sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Tillar has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Drew County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tillar's 502 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Drew County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Drew 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 Drew County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tillar's 502 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tillar you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 502 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Tillar-wide figureread your own land →
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