Bolton, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bolton, 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 Bolton 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 Bolton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bolton — the short answer
Bolton, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 972 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- Hinds County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Hinds County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Hinds County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 972 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 Hinds County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Bolton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bolton's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bolton
Each reading below is measured for Bolton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBolton runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Hinds County, the closest normal to Bolton) — 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
MeasuredBolton 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 Bolton is in
Bolton sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bolton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hinds County.
What Grows in Bolton
Every plant below cleared Bolton's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bolton?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Bolton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bolton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- G & G SuperetteUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Bst Bolton Co 72150Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Edwards Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Gaddis Mclaurin FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Hinds County Welfare OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Jet Food StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- L & K GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Beard's Auto Parts & ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Classic Convenience StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Bolton Attendance CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 049E0003 HINDSNitrate · 0.7 mi
- Bolton ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bolton'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 Bolton.
Total Sites
197
within ~10 miles of Bolton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bolton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bolton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bolton, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 130 sites within ~10 miles of Bolton. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Bolton
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 Bolton average
Your land is one point inside Bolton
Everything above resolves to Bolton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 972 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hinds 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 Bolton Average
Bolton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Bolton
- ●One soil character for all of Bolton
- ●Frost dates read at Bolton's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bolton's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bolton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bolton, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bolton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bolton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bolton average
How we know this about Bolton
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 Hinds 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 Bolton
When does frost risk typically end in Bolton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bolton typically lands around Feb 21, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Bolton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bolton typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bolton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bolton sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 11, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bolton?
The federal record around Bolton is a meaningful one — 197 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (130), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bolton?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bolton's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bolton'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 Bolton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bolton's own scale — the 972 acres it covers and 197 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bolton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 197 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bolton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bolton's boundary and the 972 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bolton's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bolton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hinds County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bolton's 972 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hinds County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hinds 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 Hinds County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bolton's 972 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bolton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 972 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bolton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiBolton sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.