Wilmar, 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.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wilmar, 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 Wilmar 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 Wilmar — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wilmar — the short answer
Wilmar, Arkansas: USDA zone 8b, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 982 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
- 982 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 Wilmar's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wilmar's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wilmar
Each reading below is measured for Wilmar itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWilmar runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Drew County, the closest normal to Wilmar) — 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
MeasuredWilmar 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 Wilmar is in
Wilmar sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Wilmar's own centroid rather than borrowed from Drew County.
What Grows in Wilmar
Every plant below cleared Wilmar'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 Wilmar?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 Wilmar
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wilmar. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- M.R.T.C. DIVISION #1 - WAREHOUUnderground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- JACKY BURT LOGGINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- CHUCK'S ONE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WILMAR-SPEEDY MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SPEEDY MART LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- H & J EXPRESS LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- 12S08W33BAC1Nitrate · 2500 ft
- 12S08W34BBB1Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- 12S08W27CCD1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 12S08W27CDC1Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- 12S08W27CDC2Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- YORKTOWN WATER ASSOCIATIONPFAS · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wilmar'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 Wilmar.
Total Sites
308
within ~10 miles of Wilmar
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
11 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wilmar
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wilmar
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wilmar, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wilmar — PFAS (5 sites) and Nitrate (152 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 Wilmar
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 Wilmar average
Your land is one point inside Wilmar
Everything above resolves to Wilmar as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 982 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 Wilmar Average
Wilmar Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Wilmar
- ●One soil character for all of Wilmar
- ●Frost dates read at Wilmar's scale: Feb 24 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wilmar's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wilmar
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wilmar, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wilmar averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wilmar — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wilmar average
How we know this about Wilmar
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 Wilmar
When does frost risk typically end in Wilmar?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wilmar 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 Wilmar?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wilmar 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 Wilmar?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wilmar 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 Wilmar?
The federal record around Wilmar is a meaningful one — 308 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (152), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Wilmar?
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 Wilmar's scale — its 8b band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wilmar'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 Wilmar’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Wilmar's own scale — the 982 acres it covers and 308 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wilmar's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 308 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wilmar, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wilmar's boundary and the 982 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wilmar's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Wilmar 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 Wilmar's 982 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 Wilmar's 982 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wilmar you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 982 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 Wilmar-wide figureread your own land →
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