Latimer, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Latimer, 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 Latimer 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 Latimer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Latimer — the short answer
Latimer, Mississippi: USDA zone 9a, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 10K 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 Jackson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Latimer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Latimer's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Latimer
Each reading below is measured for Latimer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLatimer runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from Jackson County, the closest normal to Latimer) — 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
MeasuredLatimer 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 Latimer is in
Latimer sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Latimer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Latimer
Every plant below cleared Latimer's own zone 9a and its 298-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Latimer?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Latimer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Latimer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Charlie's One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Browning Ferris IndustriesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 059J0038 JACKSONNitrate · 0.5 mi
- 059J0039 JACKSONNitrate · 0.6 mi
- STERN DRIVES AND OUTBOARDSBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Virginia City GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- K AND W PAINT AND BODYBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- 059J0033 JACKSONNitrate · 0.9 mi
- 059J0037 JACKSONNitrate · 0.9 mi
- 059J0241 JACKSONNitrate · 1.1 mi
- 059J0168 JACKSONNitrate · 1.1 mi
- 059J0032 JACKSONNitrate · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Latimer'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 Latimer.
Total Sites
588
within ~10 miles of Latimer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Latimer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Latimer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Latimer, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 182 sites within ~10 miles of Latimer. 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 Latimer
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 Latimer average
Your land is one point inside Latimer
Everything above resolves to Latimer as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jackson 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 Latimer Average
Latimer Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Latimer
- ●One soil character for all of Latimer
- ●Frost dates read at Latimer's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Latimer's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Latimer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Latimer, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Latimer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Latimer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Latimer average
How we know this about Latimer
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 Jackson 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 Latimer
When does frost risk typically end in Latimer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Latimer typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Latimer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Latimer typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Latimer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Latimer sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 22, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Latimer?
The federal record around Latimer is a meaningful one — 588 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (226), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Latimer?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Latimer's scale — its 9a band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Latimer'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 Latimer’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Latimer's own scale — the 10,421 acres it covers and 588 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Latimer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 588 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Latimer, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Latimer's boundary and the 10,421 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Latimer's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Latimer has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jackson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Latimer's 10,421 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Latimer's 10,421 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Latimer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,421 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Latimer-wide figureread your own land →
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