Ulm, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Ulm, 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 Ulm 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 Ulm — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Ulm — the short answer
Ulm, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 274 days between hard freezes, across 167 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Prairie County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Prairie County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~274
- Prairie County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 167 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 Prairie County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Ulm's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ulm's 274-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ulm
Each reading below is measured for Ulm itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsUlm runs about 274 days between hard freezes (read from Prairie County, the closest normal to Ulm) — 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
MeasuredUlm 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 Ulm is in
Ulm sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ulm's own centroid rather than borrowed from Prairie County.
What Grows in Ulm
Every plant below cleared Ulm's own zone 8b and its 274-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ulm?
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 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 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Ulm
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ulm. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 01S04W07DCC1Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- 02S04W22ABB1Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- 01S04W13CDA1Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- SELIGS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 5.0 mi
- WINGMEAD FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- AUNT NORMA'S COUNTRY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- INTERSECTION OF YODER & SPICERUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- AHTD- STUTTGART AREA HQUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- 01S05W16CBB1Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- MACK'S PRAIRIE WINGSBrownfields · 6.2 mi
- GRANULAR LECITHIN PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- ARKANSAS FORESTRY COMMISSIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ulm'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 Ulm.
Total Sites
155
within ~10 miles of Ulm
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ulm
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ulm
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ulm, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 62 sites within ~10 miles of Ulm. 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 Ulm
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 Ulm average
Your land is one point inside Ulm
Everything above resolves to Ulm as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 167 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Prairie 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 Ulm Average
Ulm Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Ulm
- ●One soil character for all of Ulm
- ●Frost dates read at Ulm's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ulm's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ulm
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ulm, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ulm averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ulm — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ulm average
How we know this about Ulm
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 Prairie 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 Ulm
When does frost risk typically end in Ulm?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ulm 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 Ulm?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ulm typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 274 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ulm?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ulm sees about 274 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 13, about 239 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ulm?
The federal record around Ulm shows 155 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (72), the nearest Nitrate record about 3.4 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 Ulm?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ulm's scale — its 8b band and its 274-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ulm'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 Ulm’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ulm's own scale — the 167 acres it covers and 155 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ulm's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 155 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ulm, the closest Nitrate record about 3.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ulm's boundary and the 167 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~274-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ulm's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ulm has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Prairie County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ulm's 167 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Prairie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Prairie 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 Prairie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ulm's 167 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ulm you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 167 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 3.4 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 Ulm-wide figureread your own land →
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