Bay Springs, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bay Springs, 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 Bay Springs 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 Bay Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bay Springs — the short answer
Bay Springs, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 274 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~274
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 10K 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 Jasper County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Bay Springs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bay Springs's 274-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bay Springs
Each reading below is measured for Bay Springs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBay Springs runs about 274 days between hard freezes (read from Jasper County, the closest normal to Bay Springs) — 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
MeasuredBay Springs 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 Bay Springs is in
Bay Springs sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bay Springs's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jasper County.
What Grows in Bay Springs
Every plant below cleared Bay Springs's own zone 8b and its 274-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bay Springs?
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 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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 Bay Springs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bay Springs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Jasper County SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- 061J0101 JASPERNitrate · 2100 ft
- Alexander Hardware CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Denson Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- BAYTOWN CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Short Stop #1Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Abney Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Say Oil Company #2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Bay Springs Red Apple TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- M L HUSBANDS FORD INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Short Stop #3Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Sumrall Oil Services IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bay Springs'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 Bay Springs.
Total Sites
79
within ~10 miles of Bay Springs
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bay Springs
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bay Springs
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bay Springs, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 9 sites within ~10 miles of Bay Springs. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Bay Springs
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 Bay Springs average
Your land is one point inside Bay Springs
Everything above resolves to Bay Springs as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jasper 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 Bay Springs Average
Bay Springs Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Bay Springs
- ●One soil character for all of Bay Springs
- ●Frost dates read at Bay Springs's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bay Springs's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bay Springs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bay Springs, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bay Springs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bay Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bay Springs average
How we know this about Bay Springs
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 Jasper 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 Bay Springs
When does frost risk typically end in Bay Springs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bay Springs typically lands around Feb 25, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Bay Springs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bay Springs typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 274 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bay Springs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bay Springs sees about 274 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 12, about 239 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bay Springs?
The federal record around Bay Springs is a meaningful one — 79 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (40), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Bay Springs?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bay Springs's scale — its 8b band and its 274-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bay Springs'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 Bay Springs’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bay Springs's own scale — the 9,564 acres it covers and 79 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bay Springs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 79 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bay Springs, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bay Springs's boundary and the 9,564 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 Bay Springs's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bay Springs has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jasper County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bay Springs's 9,564 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jasper County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jasper County
- The growing challenges every Mississippi grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Mississippi
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Jasper County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bay Springs's 9,564 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bay Springs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,564 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Bay Springs-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiBay Springs sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides