Duncan, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Duncan, 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 Duncan 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 Duncan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Duncan — the short answer
Duncan, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 586 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Bolivar County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Bolivar County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- Bolivar County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 586 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 Bolivar County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Duncan's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Duncan's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Duncan
Each reading below is measured for Duncan itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDuncan runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from Bolivar County, the closest normal to Duncan) — 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
MeasuredDuncan 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 Duncan is in
Duncan sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Duncan's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bolivar County.
What Grows in Duncan
Every plant below cleared Duncan's own zone 8b and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Duncan?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Duncan
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Duncan. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 011B0112 BOLIVARNitrate · 600 ft
- James R JohnsonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- Bst Shelby Co 73169Underground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- Hogan Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Hollingsworth Air StripUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- TOWN OF DUNCANPFAS · 3.4 mi
- 011B0025 BOLIVARNitrate · 3.6 mi
- Us Government Inventory FarmerlyUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- Phillips 66 #040628Underground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- Southside Grocery & Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- Griffin Lamp CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- Booga Bottom StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Duncan'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 Duncan.
Total Sites
57
within ~10 miles of Duncan
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Duncan
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Duncan
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Duncan, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Duncan. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Duncan
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 Duncan average
Your land is one point inside Duncan
Everything above resolves to Duncan as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 586 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bolivar 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 Duncan Average
Duncan Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Duncan
- ●One soil character for all of Duncan
- ●Frost dates read at Duncan's scale: Feb 22 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Duncan's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Duncan
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Duncan, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Duncan averages can't show:
We read public map data around Duncan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Duncan average
How we know this about Duncan
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 Bolivar 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 Duncan
When does frost risk typically end in Duncan?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Duncan typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Duncan?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Duncan typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Duncan?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Duncan sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 17, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Duncan?
The federal record around Duncan is a meaningful one — 57 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (34), the nearest Nitrate 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 Duncan?
From about Nov 1 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 Dec 1 (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 Dec 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Duncan's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Duncan'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 Duncan’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Duncan's own scale — the 586 acres it covers and 57 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Duncan's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 57 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Duncan, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Duncan's boundary and the 586 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Duncan's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Duncan has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bolivar County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Duncan's 586 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bolivar County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bolivar 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 Bolivar County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Duncan's 586 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Duncan you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 586 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Duncan-wide figureread your own land →
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