Ethel, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Ethel, 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 Ethel 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 Ethel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ethel — the short answer
Ethel, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 374 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 5
- Attala County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Attala County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Attala County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 374 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 Attala County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Ethel's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ethel's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ethel
Each reading below is measured for Ethel itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEthel runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Attala County, the closest normal to Ethel) — 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
MeasuredEthel sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Ethel is in
Ethel sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ethel's own centroid rather than borrowed from Attala County.
What Grows in Ethel
Every plant below cleared Ethel's own zone 8a and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ethel?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Ethel
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ethel. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Town Of EthelUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Attala County Department Of EducationUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- 007H0012 ATTALANitrate · 1200 ft
- 007H0013 ATTALANitrate · 1700 ft
- TEXAS EASTERN TRANS LP MP 16.10/16.13Brownfields · 2200 ft
- Ray's Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Simpson GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 007G0018 ATTALANitrate · 5.5 mi
- Ups Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC, KOSCIUSKOBrownfields · 5.7 mi
- Cajun's Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
- International Paper CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ethel'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 Ethel.
Total Sites
124
within ~10 miles of Ethel
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ethel
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ethel
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ethel, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 87 sites within ~10 miles of Ethel. 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 Ethel
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 Ethel average
Your land is one point inside Ethel
Everything above resolves to Ethel as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 374 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Attala 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 Ethel Average
Ethel Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Ethel
- ●One soil character for all of Ethel
- ●Frost dates read at Ethel's scale: Mar 5 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ethel's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ethel
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ethel, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ethel averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ethel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ethel average
How we know this about Ethel
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 Attala 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 Ethel
When does frost risk typically end in Ethel?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ethel typically lands around Mar 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Ethel?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ethel typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ethel?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ethel sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 5 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 26 to Nov 8, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ethel?
The federal record around Ethel shows 124 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (87), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Ethel?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ethel's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ethel'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 Ethel’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ethel's own scale — the 374 acres it covers and 124 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ethel's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 124 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ethel, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ethel's boundary and the 374 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ethel's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ethel has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Attala County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ethel's 374 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Attala County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Attala 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 Attala County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ethel's 374 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ethel you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 374 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 Ethel-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiEthel sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides