Macon, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — 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 Macon, 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 Macon 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 Macon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Macon — the short answer
Macon, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 27
- Noxubee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Noxubee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- Noxubee 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 Noxubee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Macon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Macon's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Macon
Each reading below is measured for Macon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMacon runs about 269 days between hard freezes (read from Noxubee County, the closest normal to Macon) — 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
MeasuredMacon 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 Macon is in
Macon sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Macon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Noxubee County.
What Grows in Macon
Every plant below cleared Macon's own zone 8b and its 269-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Macon?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Macon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Macon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Local Express # 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Mike's Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- NOXUBEE BODY SHOPBrownfields · 2300 ft
- Ms Department Of Agriculture & CommerceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Farmers Home AdministrationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Pineywood Kwick ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Bus ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 4 County Electric Power AssociationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 103H0016 NOXUBEENitrate · 0.7 mi
- Bst Macon 74134Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ExpresswayUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Patterson's Corner MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Macon'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 Macon.
Total Sites
117
within ~10 miles of Macon
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Macon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Macon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Macon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Macon — Toxics Release Inventory (14 sites) and Nitrate (34 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Macon
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 Macon average
Your land is one point inside Macon
Everything above resolves to Macon as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Noxubee 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 Macon Average
Macon Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Macon
- ●One soil character for all of Macon
- ●Frost dates read at Macon's scale: Feb 27 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Macon's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Macon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Macon, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Macon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Macon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Macon average
How we know this about Macon
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 Noxubee 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 Macon
When does frost risk typically end in Macon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Macon typically lands around Feb 27, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Macon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Macon typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 269 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Macon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Macon sees about 269 frost-free days — roughly Feb 27 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 20 to Nov 9, about 234 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Macon?
The federal record around Macon shows 117 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (63), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Macon?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Macon's scale — its 8b band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Macon'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 Macon’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Macon's own scale — the 2,451 acres it covers and 117 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Macon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 117 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Macon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Macon's boundary and the 2,451 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~269-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Macon's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Macon has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Noxubee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Macon's 2,451 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Noxubee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Noxubee 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 Noxubee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Macon's 2,451 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Macon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,451 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Macon-wide figureread your own land →
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