Warren, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Warren, 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 Warren 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 Warren — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Warren — the short answer
Warren, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 263 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Bradley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- Bradley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~263
- Bradley County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Bradley County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Warren's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Warren's 263-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Warren
Each reading below is measured for Warren itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWarren runs about 263 days between hard freezes (read from Bradley County, the closest normal to Warren) — 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
MeasuredWarren 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 Warren is in
Warren sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Warren's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bradley County.
What Grows in Warren
Every plant below cleared Warren's own zone 8a and its 263-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Warren?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 21 — 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 Warren
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Warren. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 13S09W06ACA2Nitrate · 550 ft
- ARK ARMY NATIONAL GUARDBrownfields · 800 ft
- OMS #5Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- BOTCO, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PHILLIPS 66 COMPANY #009964Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PIONEER OIL COMPANY #142Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CALLAWAY OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- 13S09W06ABD2Nitrate · 1100 ft
- SANDRIDGE SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MISSILE MART #12Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- NORTH MAIN EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SOUTH MARTIN FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Warren'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 Warren.
Total Sites
154
within ~10 miles of Warren
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Warren
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Warren
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Warren, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Warren — PFAS (5 sites) and Nitrate (84 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Warren
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 Warren average
Your land is one point inside Warren
Everything above resolves to Warren as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bradley 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 Warren Average
Warren Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Warren
- ●One soil character for all of Warren
- ●Frost dates read at Warren's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Warren's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Warren
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Warren, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Warren averages can't show:
We read public map data around Warren — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Warren average
How we know this about Warren
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 Bradley 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 Warren
When does frost risk typically end in Warren?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Warren typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Warren?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Warren typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 263 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Warren?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Warren sees about 263 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 7, about 228 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Warren?
The federal record around Warren is a meaningful one — 154 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (84), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Warren?
From about Oct 22 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Warren's scale — its 8a band and its 263-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Warren'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 Warren’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Warren's own scale — the 4,502 acres it covers and 154 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Warren's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 154 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Warren, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Warren's boundary and the 4,502 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~263-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Warren's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Warren has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bradley County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Warren's 4,502 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bradley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bradley 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 Bradley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Warren's 4,502 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Warren you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,502 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Warren-wide figureread your own land →
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