Lucedale, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Lucedale, 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 Lucedale 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 Lucedale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lucedale — the short answer
Lucedale, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- George County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- George County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- George County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 George County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lucedale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lucedale's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lucedale
Each reading below is measured for Lucedale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLucedale runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from George County, the closest normal to Lucedale) — 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
MeasuredLucedale 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 Lucedale is in
Lucedale sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lucedale's own centroid rather than borrowed from George County.
What Grows in Lucedale
Every plant below cleared Lucedale's own zone 8b and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lucedale?
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 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (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. 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 Lucedale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lucedale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ms Power Company Lucedale OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Quick WayUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Main Street Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Lucedale Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- J M Rogers & Sons IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Mcleod Tractor CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- George County CourthouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- George County HospitalUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LUCEDALE RADIATOR AND AUTOBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- WELFORD RADIATOR SHOPBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- A AND T SPURBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- George County Co OpUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lucedale'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 Lucedale.
Total Sites
117
within ~10 miles of Lucedale
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lucedale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lucedale
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Lucedale
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 Lucedale average
Your land is one point inside Lucedale
Everything above resolves to Lucedale as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from George 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 Lucedale Average
Lucedale Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lucedale
- ●One soil character for all of Lucedale
- ●Frost dates read at Lucedale's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lucedale's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lucedale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lucedale, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lucedale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lucedale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lucedale average
How we know this about Lucedale
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 George 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 Lucedale
When does frost risk typically end in Lucedale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lucedale typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Lucedale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lucedale 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 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lucedale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lucedale sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 18, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lucedale?
The federal record around Lucedale is a meaningful one — 117 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (70), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Lucedale?
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 Lucedale's scale — its 8b band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lucedale'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 Lucedale’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lucedale's own scale — the 4,090 acres it covers and 117 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lucedale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 117 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lucedale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lucedale's boundary and the 4,090 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lucedale's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lucedale has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom George County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lucedale's 4,090 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom George County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom George 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 George County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lucedale's 4,090 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lucedale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,090 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Lucedale-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiLucedale sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides