Lauderdale, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Lauderdale, 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 Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lauderdale — the short answer
Lauderdale, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Lauderdale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Lauderdale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Lauderdale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Lauderdale County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lauderdale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lauderdale's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lauderdale
Each reading below is measured for Lauderdale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLauderdale runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Lauderdale County, the closest normal to Lauderdale) — 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
MeasuredLauderdale 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 Lauderdale is in
Lauderdale sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lauderdale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lauderdale County.
What Grows in Lauderdale
Every plant below cleared Lauderdale's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lauderdale?
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 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Lauderdale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lauderdale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ralph Morgan LoggingUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Cefco #501Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Super Stop #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Dalewood One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 075D0016 LAUDERDALENitrate · 1.0 mi
- Wilson GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Wedgeworth Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- District #2 BarnUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Van Doren FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 075E0003 LAUDERDALENitrate · 2.2 mi
- OwenUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- 075D0011 LAUDERDALENitrate · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lauderdale'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 Lauderdale.
Total Sites
101
within ~10 miles of Lauderdale
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lauderdale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lauderdale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lauderdale, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lauderdale — Nitrate (30 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Lauderdale
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 Lauderdale average
Your land is one point inside Lauderdale
Everything above resolves to Lauderdale as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale Average
Lauderdale Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lauderdale
- ●One soil character for all of Lauderdale
- ●Frost dates read at Lauderdale's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lauderdale's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lauderdale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lauderdale, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lauderdale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lauderdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lauderdale average
How we know this about Lauderdale
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 Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale
When does frost risk typically end in Lauderdale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lauderdale typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Lauderdale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lauderdale typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lauderdale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lauderdale sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 13, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lauderdale?
The federal record around Lauderdale is a meaningful one — 101 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (53), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Lauderdale?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lauderdale's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lauderdale'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 Lauderdale’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lauderdale's own scale — the 1,830 acres it covers and 101 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lauderdale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 101 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lauderdale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lauderdale's boundary and the 1,830 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lauderdale's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lauderdale has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lauderdale County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lauderdale's 1,830 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lauderdale County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lauderdale's 1,830 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lauderdale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,830 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Lauderdale-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiLauderdale sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides