Mound, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Mound, 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 Mound 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 Mound — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Mound — the short answer
Mound, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 334 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Madison Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Madison Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Madison Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 334 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 Madison Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Mound's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mound's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mound
Each reading below is measured for Mound itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMound runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Madison Parish, the closest normal to Mound) — 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
MeasuredMound 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 Mound is in
Mound sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mound's own centroid rather than borrowed from Madison Parish.
What Grows in Mound
Every plant below cleared Mound's own zone 8b and its 287-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mound?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — 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 Mound
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mound. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ma-18Nitrate · 2000 ft
- MARTIN AVIATIONBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- Ma-48Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- Interstate Station #13Underground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Nelson Farm PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- HELICOPTER PARTS & SERVICEBrownfields · 4.6 mi
- DELTIC FARM & TIMBER CO ASHLEY WESTBrownfields · 5.5 mi
- VERY PRESSING MATTERSBrownfields · 5.5 mi
- Lahr GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- Ma-47Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- Ma-29Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- Fondile Construction CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mound'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 Mound.
Total Sites
229
within ~10 miles of Mound
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mound
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mound
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mound, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Mound — Superfund (6 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (22 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Mound
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 Mound average
Your land is one point inside Mound
Everything above resolves to Mound as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 334 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Madison Parish’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 Mound Average
Mound Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Mound
- ●One soil character for all of Mound
- ●Frost dates read at Mound's scale: Feb 16 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mound's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mound
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mound, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mound averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mound — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mound average
How we know this about Mound
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 Madison Parish’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 Mound
When does frost risk typically end in Mound?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mound typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Mound?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mound typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mound?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mound sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 16, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mound?
The federal record around Mound is a meaningful one — 229 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (111), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Mound?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mound's scale — its 8b band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mound'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 Mound’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mound's own scale — the 334 acres it covers and 229 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mound's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 229 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mound, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mound's boundary and the 334 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~287-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mound's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mound has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Madison Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mound's 334 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Madison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Madison County
- The growing challenges every Louisiana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Louisiana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Madison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mound's 334 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mound you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 334 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Mound-wide figureread your own land →
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