Longview, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Longview, 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 Longview 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 Longview — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Longview — the short answer
Longview, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Oktibbeha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Oktibbeha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- Oktibbeha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Oktibbeha County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Longview's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Longview's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Longview
Each reading below is measured for Longview itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLongview runs about 269 days between hard freezes (read from Oktibbeha County, the closest normal to Longview) — 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
MeasuredLongview 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 Longview is in
Longview sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Longview's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oktibbeha County.
What Grows in Longview
Every plant below cleared Longview's own zone 8a and its 269-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Longview?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Longview
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Longview. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 105F0021 OKTIBBEHANitrate · 1200 ft
- Longview GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BUDDY MCCLELLAND BODY SHOPBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- Bradley's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- Sprint Mart #4147 New LightUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- S P PrisockUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- Christopher's StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- Petty GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- Beetle's Bait ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- Starkville Airport Bryan FieldUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- Msu Raspet Flight Research LabUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #1604Brownfields · 5.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Longview'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 Longview.
Total Sites
174
within ~10 miles of Longview
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Longview
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Longview
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Longview, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Longview. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Longview
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 Longview average
Your land is one point inside Longview
Everything above resolves to Longview as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Oktibbeha 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 Longview Average
Longview Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Longview
- ●One soil character for all of Longview
- ●Frost dates read at Longview's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Longview's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Longview
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Longview, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Longview averages can't show:
We read public map data around Longview — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Longview average
How we know this about Longview
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 Oktibbeha 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 Longview
When does frost risk typically end in Longview?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Longview typically lands around Feb 28, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Longview?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Longview typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 269 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Longview?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Longview sees about 269 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 10, about 234 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Longview?
The federal record around Longview is a meaningful one — 174 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (106), the nearest Nitrate 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 Longview?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Longview's scale — its 8a band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Longview'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 Longview’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Longview's own scale — the 1,067 acres it covers and 174 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Longview's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 174 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Longview, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Longview's boundary and the 1,067 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~269-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Longview's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Longview has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Oktibbeha County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Longview's 1,067 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oktibbeha County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Longview's 1,067 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Longview you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,067 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Longview-wide figureread your own land →
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