Benndale, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Benndale, 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 Benndale 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 Benndale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Benndale — the short answer
Benndale, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 966 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- George County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- George County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- George County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 966 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 George County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Benndale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Benndale's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Benndale
Each reading below is measured for Benndale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBenndale runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from George County, the closest normal to Benndale) — 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
MeasuredBenndale 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 Benndale is in
Benndale sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Benndale's own centroid rather than borrowed from George County.
What Grows in Benndale
Every plant below cleared Benndale's own zone 8b and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Benndale?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Benndale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Benndale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Larry's ShoprightUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Bendale Super StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Bendale Community MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Benn Joe SawmillsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Lil Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- George County District 5 BarnUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- Dickson's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- 039F0017 GEORGENitrate · 5.7 mi
- 039J0006 GEORGENitrate · 5.9 mi
- 039J0007 GEORGENitrate · 6.1 mi
- 039J0005 GEORGENitrate · 6.2 mi
- 039J0004 GEORGENitrate · 6.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Benndale'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 Benndale.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Benndale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Benndale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Benndale, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Benndale. 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 Benndale
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 Benndale average
Your land is one point inside Benndale
Everything above resolves to Benndale as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 966 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from George 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 Benndale Average
Benndale Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Benndale
- ●One soil character for all of Benndale
- ●Frost dates read at Benndale's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Benndale's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Benndale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Benndale, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Benndale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Benndale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Benndale average
How we know this about Benndale
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 George 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 Benndale
When does frost risk typically end in Benndale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Benndale typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Benndale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Benndale typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Benndale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Benndale sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 18, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Benndale?
The federal record around Benndale is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (19), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Benndale?
From about Nov 2 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 Dec 2 (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 Dec 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Benndale's scale — its 8b band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Benndale'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 Benndale’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Benndale's own scale — the 966 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Benndale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Benndale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Benndale's boundary and the 966 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Benndale's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Benndale has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom George County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Benndale's 966 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom George County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom George 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 George County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Benndale's 966 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Benndale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 966 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Benndale-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiBenndale sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.