Braxton, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Braxton, 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 Braxton 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 Braxton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Braxton — the short answer
Braxton, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 377 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Simpson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 19
- Simpson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- Simpson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 377 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 Simpson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Braxton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Braxton's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Braxton
Each reading below is measured for Braxton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBraxton runs about 261 days between hard freezes (read from Simpson County, the closest normal to Braxton) — 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
MeasuredBraxton 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 Braxton is in
Braxton sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Braxton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Simpson County.
What Grows in Braxton
Every plant below cleared Braxton's own zone 8b and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Braxton?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 19 — 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 Braxton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Braxton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 127C0002 SIMPSONNitrate · 350 ft
- Diane'sUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Lin-d's Stop & ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- M A Neely & SonsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Braddy's ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- 127C0021 SIMPSONNitrate · 2.5 mi
- 121V0006 RANKINNitrate · 2.7 mi
- M&E OIL SERVICEBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- Piney Woods SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- 127D0006 SIMPSONNitrate · 4.3 mi
- Mendenhall L4 HutUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- 127D0038 SIMPSONNitrate · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Braxton'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 Braxton.
Total Sites
82
within ~10 miles of Braxton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Braxton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Braxton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Braxton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Braxton — Underground Storage Tanks (53 sites) and Nitrate (22 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Braxton
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 Braxton average
Your land is one point inside Braxton
Everything above resolves to Braxton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 377 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Simpson 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 Braxton Average
Braxton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Braxton
- ●One soil character for all of Braxton
- ●Frost dates read at Braxton's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Braxton's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Braxton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Braxton, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Braxton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Braxton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Braxton average
How we know this about Braxton
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 Simpson 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 Braxton
When does frost risk typically end in Braxton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Braxton typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Braxton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Braxton typically arrives around Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 5, so the watching starts about Oct 20 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Braxton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Braxton sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 5, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Braxton?
The federal record around Braxton shows 82 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (53), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Braxton?
From about Oct 20 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Braxton's scale — its 8b band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Braxton'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 Braxton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Braxton's own scale — the 377 acres it covers and 82 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Braxton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 82 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Braxton, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Braxton's boundary and the 377 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Braxton's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Braxton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Simpson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Braxton's 377 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Simpson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Simpson 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 Simpson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Braxton's 377 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Braxton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 377 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Braxton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiBraxton sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides