Brookhaven, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Brookhaven, 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 Brookhaven 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 Brookhaven — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Brookhaven — the short answer
Brookhaven, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 279 days between hard freezes, across 14K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~279
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 14K 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 Lincoln County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Brookhaven's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brookhaven's 279-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brookhaven
Each reading below is measured for Brookhaven itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBrookhaven runs about 279 days between hard freezes (read from Lincoln County, the closest normal to Brookhaven) — 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
MeasuredBrookhaven 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 Brookhaven is in
Brookhaven sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Brookhaven's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Brookhaven
Every plant below cleared Brookhaven's own zone 8b and its 279-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brookhaven?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (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. 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 Brookhaven
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brookhaven. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Corey's Pit Stop Aka Vision Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Union 76 Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- 085H0006 LINCOLNNitrate · 900 ft
- Foster's ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Roberts Farm SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Brookhaven Food CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Lori SalyerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- 085H0019 LINCOLNNitrate · 1000 ft
- 085H0020 LINCOLNNitrate · 1000 ft
- Bst Brookhaven Co 76118Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- ESCAMBIA WOOD - BROOKHAVENSuperfund · 1100 ft
- Zip Radiator ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brookhaven'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 Brookhaven.
Total Sites
264
within ~10 miles of Brookhaven
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brookhaven
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brookhaven
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Brookhaven
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 Brookhaven average
Your land is one point inside Brookhaven
Everything above resolves to Brookhaven as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 14K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lincoln 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 Brookhaven Average
Brookhaven Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Brookhaven
- ●One soil character for all of Brookhaven
- ●Frost dates read at Brookhaven's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brookhaven's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brookhaven
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brookhaven, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brookhaven averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brookhaven — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brookhaven average
How we know this about Brookhaven
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 Lincoln 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 Brookhaven
When does frost risk typically end in Brookhaven?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brookhaven typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Brookhaven?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brookhaven 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 279 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brookhaven?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brookhaven sees about 279 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 12, about 244 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brookhaven?
The federal record around Brookhaven is a meaningful one — 264 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (147), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Brookhaven?
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 Brookhaven's scale — its 8b band and its 279-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brookhaven'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 Brookhaven’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Brookhaven's own scale — the 13,851 acres it covers and 264 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brookhaven's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 264 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brookhaven, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brookhaven's boundary and the 13,851 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~279-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Brookhaven's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Brookhaven has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lincoln County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Brookhaven's 13,851 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brookhaven's 13,851 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brookhaven you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,851 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Brookhaven-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiBrookhaven sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides