Hickory, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Hickory, 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 Hickory 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 Hickory — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hickory — the short answer
Hickory, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 268 days between hard freezes, across 599 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 27
- Newton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Newton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~268
- Newton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 599 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 Newton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Hickory's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hickory's 268-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hickory
Each reading below is measured for Hickory itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHickory runs about 268 days between hard freezes (read from Newton County, the closest normal to Hickory) — 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
MeasuredHickory 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 Hickory is in
Hickory sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hickory's own centroid rather than borrowed from Newton County.
What Grows in Hickory
Every plant below cleared Hickory's own zone 8a and its 268-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hickory?
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 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 27 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Hickory
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hickory. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- T & D Middle StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Bst Hickory Co 74106Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Hickory Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 101L0002 NEWTONNitrate · 1600 ft
- C G MccormickUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Hickory Co Op GinUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Stamper Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- I-20 TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- 101L0004 NEWTONNitrate · 3.8 mi
- 101Q0002 NEWTONNitrate · 4.9 mi
- Bst Chunky Co 74303Underground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- Lou's Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hickory'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 Hickory.
Total Sites
106
within ~10 miles of Hickory
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hickory
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hickory
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hickory, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 8 sites within ~10 miles of Hickory. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Hickory
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 Hickory average
Your land is one point inside Hickory
Everything above resolves to Hickory as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 599 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Newton 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 Hickory Average
Hickory Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Hickory
- ●One soil character for all of Hickory
- ●Frost dates read at Hickory's scale: Feb 27 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hickory's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hickory
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hickory, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hickory averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hickory — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hickory average
How we know this about Hickory
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 Newton 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 Hickory
When does frost risk typically end in Hickory?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hickory typically lands around Feb 27, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Hickory?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hickory 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 268 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hickory?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hickory sees about 268 frost-free days — roughly Feb 27 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 20 to Nov 8, about 233 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hickory?
The federal record around Hickory shows 106 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (65), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Hickory?
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 Hickory's scale — its 8a band and its 268-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hickory'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 Hickory’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hickory's own scale — the 599 acres it covers and 106 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hickory's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 106 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hickory, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hickory's boundary and the 599 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~268-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hickory's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hickory has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Newton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hickory's 599 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Newton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Newton 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 Newton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hickory's 599 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hickory you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 599 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 Hickory-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiHickory sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides