Lexington, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Lexington, 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 Lexington 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 Lexington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lexington — the short answer
Lexington, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 272 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Holmes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Holmes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~272
- Holmes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Holmes County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Lexington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lexington's 272-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lexington
Each reading below is measured for Lexington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLexington runs about 272 days between hard freezes (read from Holmes County, the closest normal to Lexington) — 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
MeasuredLexington 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 Lexington is in
Lexington sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lexington's own centroid rather than borrowed from Holmes County.
What Grows in Lexington
Every plant below cleared Lexington's own zone 8a and its 272-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lexington?
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 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — 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 Lexington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lexington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Double Quick #111Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Bst Lexington Co 73116Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Lexington Fire DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Howard Community Glenn BrockUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Jitney Jr #619Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Super Ii Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Mdot Lexington Maintenance HeadquartersUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Sam Brown #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Mcgee's Cafe & GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Former Crown Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Earvin GibsonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Texaco On The SquareUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lexington'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 Lexington.
Total Sites
50
within ~10 miles of Lexington
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lexington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lexington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lexington, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lexington — Nitrate (14 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (33 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Lexington
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 Lexington average
Your land is one point inside Lexington
Everything above resolves to Lexington as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Holmes County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Lexington Average
Lexington Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Lexington
- ●One soil character for all of Lexington
- ●Frost dates read at Lexington's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lexington's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lexington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lexington, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lexington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lexington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lexington average
How we know this about Lexington
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Holmes 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Lexington
When does frost risk typically end in Lexington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lexington typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Lexington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lexington typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 272 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lexington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lexington sees about 272 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 11, about 237 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lexington?
The federal record around Lexington shows 50 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (33), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Lexington?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lexington's scale — its 8a band and its 272-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lexington'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 Lexington’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lexington's own scale — the 1,547 acres it covers and 50 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lexington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 50 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lexington, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lexington's boundary and the 1,547 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~272-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lexington's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lexington has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Holmes County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lexington's 1,547 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Holmes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Holmes 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 Holmes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lexington's 1,547 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lexington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,547 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 Lexington-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiLexington sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.