Winthrop, Arkansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Winthrop, 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 Winthrop 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 Winthrop — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Winthrop — the short answer
Winthrop, Arkansas: USDA zone 8a, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 666 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 27
- Little River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Little River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- Little River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 666 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 Little River County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Winthrop's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Winthrop's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Winthrop
Each reading below is measured for Winthrop itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWinthrop runs about 269 days between hard freezes (read from Little River County, the closest normal to Winthrop) — 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
MeasuredWinthrop 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 Winthrop is in
Winthrop sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Winthrop's own centroid rather than borrowed from Little River County.
What Grows in Winthrop
Every plant below cleared Winthrop's own zone 8a and its 269-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arkansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Winthrop?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — 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 Winthrop
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Winthrop. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WINTHROP PUBLIC SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- YOUNG OIL #10 (TALLANT'S GROCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- 11S32W02CCC1Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- RED RIVER OIL CO LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- NELSON'S GROC BASKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- LITTLE RIVER CO RDAPFAS · 3.0 mi
- 11S32W09BAB1Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- 11S33W12AAA1Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 11S31W36BCC1Nitrate · 6.5 mi
- 11S31W36BAC1Nitrate · 6.6 mi
- FROGLEVEL FARMSCAFO · 6.6 mi
- FOREMAN STATIONBrownfields · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Winthrop'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 Winthrop.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of Winthrop
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Winthrop
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Winthrop
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Winthrop, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Winthrop. 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 Winthrop
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 Winthrop average
Your land is one point inside Winthrop
Everything above resolves to Winthrop as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 666 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Little River 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 Winthrop Average
Winthrop Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Winthrop
- ●One soil character for all of Winthrop
- ●Frost dates read at Winthrop's scale: Feb 27 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Winthrop's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Winthrop
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Winthrop, Arkansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Winthrop averages can't show:
We read public map data around Winthrop — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Winthrop average
How we know this about Winthrop
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 Little River 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 Winthrop
When does frost risk typically end in Winthrop?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Winthrop typically lands around Feb 27, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Winthrop?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Winthrop typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 269 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Winthrop?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Winthrop sees about 269 frost-free days — roughly Feb 27 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 20 to Nov 9, about 234 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Winthrop?
The federal record around Winthrop is light — 48 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (27), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Winthrop?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Winthrop's scale — its 8a band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Winthrop'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 Winthrop’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Winthrop's own scale — the 666 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Winthrop's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Winthrop, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Winthrop's boundary and the 666 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~269-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Winthrop's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Winthrop has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Little River County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Winthrop's 666 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Little River County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Little River 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 Little River County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Winthrop's 666 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Winthrop you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 666 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 Winthrop-wide figureread your own land →
More in Arkansas
Wider growing context
What grows across ArkansasWinthrop sits outside our named growing regions, so Arkansas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides