Byram, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Byram, 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 Byram 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 Byram — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Byram — the short answer
Byram, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 13K acres of city.
- 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
- City area
- 13K 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 Byram's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Byram's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Byram
Each reading below is measured for Byram itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsByram runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Hinds County, the closest normal to Byram) — 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
MeasuredByram 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 Byram is in
Byram sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Byram's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hinds County.
What Grows in Byram
Every plant below cleared Byram'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 Byram?
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 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. 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 Byram
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Byram. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Gary Road SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 049R0035 HINDSNitrate · 0.7 mi
- Kea Foods & DeliUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Kroger Fuel Center V-490Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- KROGER #490-25Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- Fastbreak-ByramUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Byram GasUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #6469Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- Cefco #534Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- CITY OF JACKSON-MADDOX RD.PFAS · 1.5 mi
- CITY OF JACKSON, MSPFAS · 1.5 mi
- Byram Attendance CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Byram'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 Byram.
Total Sites
855
within ~10 miles of Byram
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Byram
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Byram
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Byram
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 Byram average
Your land is one point inside Byram
Everything above resolves to Byram as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 13K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hinds 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 Byram Average
Byram Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Byram
- ●One soil character for all of Byram
- ●Frost dates read at Byram's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Byram's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Byram
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Byram, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Byram averages can't show:
We read public map data around Byram — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Byram average
How we know this about Byram
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 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 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 Byram
When does frost risk typically end in Byram?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Byram 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 Byram?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Byram 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 Byram?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Byram 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 Byram?
The federal record around Byram is a meaningful one — 855 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (520), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Byram?
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 Byram's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Byram'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 Byram’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Byram's own scale — the 13,056 acres it covers and 855 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Byram's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 855 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Byram, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Byram's boundary and the 13,056 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 Byram's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Byram 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 Byram's 13,056 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 Byram's 13,056 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Byram you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,056 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Byram-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiByram sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.