Cary, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Cary, 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 Cary 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 Cary — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cary — the short answer
Cary, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 285 days between hard freezes, across 452 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Sharkey County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Sharkey County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~285
- Sharkey County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 452 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 Sharkey County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Cary's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cary's 285-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cary
Each reading below is measured for Cary itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCary runs about 285 days between hard freezes (read from Sharkey County, the closest normal to Cary) — 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
MeasuredCary 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 Cary is in
Cary sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cary's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sharkey County.
What Grows in Cary
Every plant below cleared Cary's own zone 8b and its 285-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cary?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — 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 Cary
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cary. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 125G0028 SHARKEYNitrate · 350 ft
- 125G0041 SHARKEYNitrate · 350 ft
- Bellgrade LumberUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Moore Planting CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Southern Implement CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- City Of Rolling ForkUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Cary Microwave TowerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Rog WilsonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Stu-mart'sUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- H & C Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- 125G0043 SHARKEYNitrate · 0.6 mi
- 125G0044 SHARKEYNitrate · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cary'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 Cary.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cary
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cary
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cary, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of Cary. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Cary
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 Cary average
Your land is one point inside Cary
Everything above resolves to Cary as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 452 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Sharkey 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 Cary Average
Cary Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Cary
- ●One soil character for all of Cary
- ●Frost dates read at Cary's scale: Feb 18 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cary's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cary
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cary, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cary averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cary — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cary average
How we know this about Cary
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 Sharkey 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 Cary
When does frost risk typically end in Cary?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cary typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Cary?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cary typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 285 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cary?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cary sees about 285 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 16, about 250 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cary?
The federal record around Cary shows 60 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (32), 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 Cary?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cary's scale — its 8b band and its 285-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cary'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 Cary’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cary's own scale — the 452 acres it covers and 60 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cary's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 60 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cary, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cary's boundary and the 452 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~285-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cary's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cary has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Sharkey County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cary's 452 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sharkey County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sharkey 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 Sharkey County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cary's 452 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cary you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 452 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 Cary-wide figureread your own land →
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