Isola, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Isola, 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 Isola 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 Isola — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Isola — the short answer
Isola, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 473 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Humphreys County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Humphreys County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Humphreys County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 473 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 Humphreys County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Isola's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Isola's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Isola
Each reading below is measured for Isola itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsIsola runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Humphreys County, the closest normal to Isola) — 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
MeasuredIsola 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 Isola is in
Isola sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Isola's own centroid rather than borrowed from Humphreys County.
What Grows in Isola
Every plant below cleared Isola's own zone 8b and its 289-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Isola?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Isola
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Isola. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- B & B Mini MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- 053B0021 HUMPHREYSNitrate · 1100 ft
- Gresham #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- 053B0012 HUMPHREYSNitrate · 1400 ft
- C & E Catfish Farms IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- CONSOLIDATED CATFISH CO LLCToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- Walter Bankhead Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Double Quick #28Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Columbia Gulf Transmission CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- PRODUCERS FEED COToxics Release Inventory · 1.6 mi
- TENNESSEE GAS PIPELINE COMPANY, ISOLA COMPRESSOR STATION NUMBER 843Brownfields · 1.7 mi
- Sid WindhamUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Isola'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 Isola.
Total Sites
97
within ~10 miles of Isola
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Isola
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Isola
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Isola, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Isola. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Isola
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 Isola average
Your land is one point inside Isola
Everything above resolves to Isola as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 473 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Humphreys 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 Isola Average
Isola Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Isola
- ●One soil character for all of Isola
- ●Frost dates read at Isola's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Isola's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Isola
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Isola, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Isola averages can't show:
We read public map data around Isola — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Isola average
How we know this about Isola
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 Humphreys 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 Isola
When does frost risk typically end in Isola?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Isola typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Isola?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Isola typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Isola?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Isola sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 18, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Isola?
The federal record around Isola shows 97 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (57), 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 Isola?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Isola's scale — its 8b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Isola'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 Isola’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Isola's own scale — the 473 acres it covers and 97 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Isola's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 97 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Isola, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Isola's boundary and the 473 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Isola's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Isola has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Humphreys County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Isola's 473 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Humphreys County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Humphreys 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 Humphreys County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Isola's 473 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Isola you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 473 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 Isola-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Growing region
Nearby growing guides