Clarksdale, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Clarksdale, 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 Clarksdale 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 Clarksdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clarksdale — the short answer
Clarksdale, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 275 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Coahoma County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Coahoma County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~275
- Coahoma County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 12K 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 Coahoma County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Clarksdale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clarksdale's 275-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Clarksdale
Each reading below is measured for Clarksdale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsClarksdale runs about 275 days between hard freezes (read from Coahoma County, the closest normal to Clarksdale) — 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
MeasuredClarksdale 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 Clarksdale is in
Clarksdale sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Clarksdale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Coahoma County.
What Grows in Clarksdale
Every plant below cleared Clarksdale's own zone 8b and its 275-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clarksdale?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Clarksdale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clarksdale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Kincade ManufacturersUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Delta Mercantile CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Crossroads Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Pete Elardo IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Dunavent IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Yarber ProduceUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Clarksdale Beverage CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Clarksdale Mini MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Morton Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Rose Seed CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Double Quick #101Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Clarksdale Gas Mart #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clarksdale'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 Clarksdale.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clarksdale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clarksdale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Clarksdale, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 121 sites within ~10 miles of Clarksdale. 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.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Clarksdale
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 Clarksdale average
Your land is one point inside Clarksdale
Everything above resolves to Clarksdale as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 12K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Coahoma 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 Clarksdale Average
Clarksdale Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Clarksdale
- ●One soil character for all of Clarksdale
- ●Frost dates read at Clarksdale's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clarksdale's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clarksdale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clarksdale, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clarksdale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clarksdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clarksdale average
How we know this about Clarksdale
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 Coahoma 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 Clarksdale
When does frost risk typically end in Clarksdale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clarksdale typically lands around Feb 25, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Clarksdale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clarksdale typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 275 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Clarksdale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clarksdale sees about 275 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 13, about 240 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clarksdale?
The federal record around Clarksdale is a meaningful one — 171 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (121), 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 Clarksdale?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Clarksdale's scale — its 8b band and its 275-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clarksdale'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 Clarksdale’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Clarksdale's own scale — the 12,028 acres it covers and 171 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clarksdale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 171 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clarksdale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clarksdale's boundary and the 12,028 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~275-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Clarksdale's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Clarksdale has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Coahoma County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Clarksdale's 12,028 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Coahoma County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Coahoma 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 Coahoma County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clarksdale's 12,028 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clarksdale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,028 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 Clarksdale-wide figureread your own land →
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