Flowood, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — 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 Flowood, 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 Flowood 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 Flowood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Flowood — the short answer
Flowood, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 18K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- Rankin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Rankin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~278
- Rankin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 18K 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 Rankin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Flowood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Flowood's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Flowood
Each reading below is measured for Flowood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFlowood runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Rankin County, the closest normal to Flowood) — 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
MeasuredFlowood 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 Flowood is in
Flowood sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Flowood's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Rankin County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Flowood
Every plant below cleared Flowood's own zone 8b and its 278-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Flowood?
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 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 26 — 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 Flowood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Flowood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ASPEN DENTALBrownfields · 1300 ft
- LOWE'S OF FLOWOOD, MS #2553Brownfields · 1500 ft
- EXIDE CORPORATION, JACKSON PLASTICS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 2300 ft
- EXIDE CORPORATION, JACKSON PLASTICS PLANTBrownfields · 2300 ft
- Mcgraw Rental IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Jan AlsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Kroger Fuel Center V-479Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- KROGER #479-25Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- MSANG, 172ND MILITARY AIR LIFT GROUPBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- CITY OF FLOWOODPFAS · 0.8 mi
- CITY OF FLOWOOD - NORANCOPFAS · 0.8 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #17038Brownfields · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Flowood'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 Flowood.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Flowood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Flowood
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 Flowood
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 Flowood average
Your land is one point inside Flowood
Everything above resolves to Flowood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 18K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Rankin 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 Flowood Average
Flowood Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Flowood
- ●One soil character for all of Flowood
- ●Frost dates read at Flowood's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Flowood's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Flowood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Flowood, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Flowood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Flowood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Flowood average
How we know this about Flowood
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 Rankin 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 Flowood
When does frost risk typically end in Flowood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Flowood 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 Flowood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Flowood typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 278 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Flowood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Flowood sees about 278 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 12, about 243 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Flowood?
The federal record around Flowood is a meaningful one — 1,370 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (825), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Flowood?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Flowood's scale — its 8b band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Flowood'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 Flowood’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Flowood's own scale — the 18,431 acres it covers and 1,370 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Flowood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,370 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Flowood, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Flowood's boundary and the 18,431 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Flowood sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Flowood has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Rankin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Flowood's 18,431 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rankin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rankin 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 Rankin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Flowood's 18,431 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Flowood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 18,431 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Flowood-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiFlowood sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.