Henderson Point, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Henderson Point, 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 Henderson Point 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 Henderson Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Henderson Point — the short answer
Henderson Point, Mississippi: USDA zone 9a, about 309 days between hard freezes, across 682 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 4
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~309
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 682 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 Harrison County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Henderson Point's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Henderson Point's 309-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Henderson Point
Each reading below is measured for Henderson Point itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHenderson Point runs about 309 days between hard freezes (read from Harrison County, the closest normal to Henderson Point) — 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
MeasuredHenderson Point sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Henderson Point is in
Henderson Point sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Henderson Point's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Harrison County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Henderson Point
Every plant below cleared Henderson Point's own zone 9a and its 309-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Henderson Point?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Henderson Point
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Henderson Point. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 047N0196 HARRISONNitrate · 2600 ft
- Exxon R/S #5-2130Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Gulfshore Baptist AssemblyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 047N0192 HARRISONNitrate · 1.6 mi
- C & J Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- 047N0002 HARRISONNitrate · 1.7 mi
- TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- City BarnUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- FITZPATRICK HOMESBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- 047N0327 HARRISONNitrate · 2.2 mi
- 047N0182 HARRISONNitrate · 2.2 mi
- Gulf Coast Prestress IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Henderson Point'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 Henderson Point.
Total Sites
319
within ~10 miles of Henderson Point
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Henderson Point
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Henderson Point
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Henderson Point, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Henderson Point. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Henderson Point
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 Henderson Point average
Your land is one point inside Henderson Point
Everything above resolves to Henderson Point as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 682 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Harrison 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 Henderson Point Average
Henderson Point Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Henderson Point
- ●One soil character for all of Henderson Point
- ●Frost dates read at Henderson Point's scale: Feb 4 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Henderson Point's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Henderson Point
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Henderson Point, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Henderson Point averages can't show:
We read public map data around Henderson Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Henderson Point average
How we know this about Henderson Point
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 Harrison 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 Henderson Point
When does frost risk typically end in Henderson Point?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Henderson Point typically lands around Feb 4, 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 Feb 25.
When is the first frost in Henderson Point?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Henderson Point typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 309 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Henderson Point?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Henderson Point sees about 309 frost-free days — roughly Feb 4 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 25 to Nov 26, about 274 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Henderson Point?
The federal record around Henderson Point is a meaningful one — 319 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (135), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Henderson Point?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Henderson Point's scale — its 9a band and its 309-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Henderson Point'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 Henderson Point’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Henderson Point's own scale — the 682 acres it covers and 319 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Henderson Point's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 319 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Henderson Point, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Henderson Point's boundary and the 682 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~309-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Henderson Point sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Henderson Point has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Harrison County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Henderson Point's 682 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harrison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harrison 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 Harrison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Henderson Point's 682 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Henderson Point you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 682 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Henderson Point-wide figureread your own land →
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