Beechwood, Mississippi, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Beechwood, 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 Beechwood 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 Beechwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Beechwood — the short answer
Beechwood, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Warren County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Warren County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- Warren County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Warren County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Beechwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Beechwood's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Beechwood
Each reading below is measured for Beechwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBeechwood runs about 286 days between hard freezes (read from Warren County, the closest normal to Beechwood) — 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
MeasuredBeechwood 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 Beechwood is in
Beechwood sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Beechwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Warren County.
What Grows in Beechwood
Every plant below cleared Beechwood's own zone 8b and its 286-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Beechwood?
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 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — 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 Beechwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Beechwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JACKSON READY-MIX PLANT 14Toxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- Warren Central High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Ms State Highway DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Vicksburg Warren School Services BuildingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- School Bus ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- NSM LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Lewis Miller Construction CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Highway 27self ServeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Circle K # 2723753Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Mac's Fina Station #536Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Circle K # 2723445Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Beech MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Beechwood'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 Beechwood.
Total Sites
296
within ~10 miles of Beechwood
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Beechwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Beechwood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Beechwood, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Beechwood — PFAS (4 sites) and Superfund (6 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Beechwood
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 Beechwood average
Your land is one point inside Beechwood
Everything above resolves to Beechwood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Warren County’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 Beechwood Average
Beechwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Beechwood
- ●One soil character for all of Beechwood
- ●Frost dates read at Beechwood's scale: Feb 15 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Beechwood's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Beechwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Beechwood, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Beechwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Beechwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Beechwood average
How we know this about Beechwood
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 Warren 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 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 Beechwood
When does frost risk typically end in Beechwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Beechwood typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Beechwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Beechwood typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 286 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Beechwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Beechwood sees about 286 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 14, about 251 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Beechwood?
The federal record around Beechwood is a meaningful one — 296 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (166), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.8 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 Beechwood?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Beechwood's scale — its 8b band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Beechwood'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 Beechwood’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Beechwood's own scale — the 4,011 acres it covers and 296 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Beechwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 296 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Beechwood, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Beechwood's boundary and the 4,011 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~286-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Beechwood's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Beechwood has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Warren County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Beechwood's 4,011 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Warren County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Warren 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 Warren County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Beechwood's 4,011 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Beechwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,011 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.8 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 Beechwood-wide figureread your own land →
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