Magee, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Magee, 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 Magee 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 Magee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Magee — the short answer
Magee, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Simpson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 19
- Simpson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- Simpson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Simpson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Magee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Magee's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Magee
Each reading below is measured for Magee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMagee runs about 261 days between hard freezes (read from Simpson County, the closest normal to Magee) — 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
MeasuredMagee 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 Magee is in
Magee sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Magee's own centroid rather than borrowed from Simpson County.
What Grows in Magee
Every plant below cleared Magee's own zone 8b and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Magee?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 19 — 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 Magee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Magee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Marsells Body ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- C & C Muffler ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Mid City ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Former Mr Cut Rate (ffp #503)Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Pearson SalvageUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Star Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- 127Q0015 SIMPSONNitrate · 1100 ft
- W.G. AVERY BODY CO., INC.Superfund · 1200 ft
- McmillansUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- City Of MageeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Magee C O 71143Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Pace Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Magee'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 Magee.
Total Sites
140
within ~10 miles of Magee
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Magee
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Magee
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Magee, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 105 sites within ~10 miles of Magee. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Magee
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 Magee average
Your land is one point inside Magee
Everything above resolves to Magee as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Simpson 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 Magee Average
Magee Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Magee
- ●One soil character for all of Magee
- ●Frost dates read at Magee's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Magee's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Magee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Magee, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Magee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Magee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Magee average
How we know this about Magee
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 Simpson 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 Magee
When does frost risk typically end in Magee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Magee typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Magee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Magee typically arrives around Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 5, so the watching starts about Oct 20 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Magee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Magee sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 5, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Magee?
The federal record around Magee is a meaningful one — 140 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (105), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Magee?
From about Oct 20 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Magee's scale — its 8b band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Magee'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 Magee’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Magee's own scale — the 3,366 acres it covers and 140 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Magee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 140 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Magee, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Magee's boundary and the 3,366 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Magee's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Magee has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Simpson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Magee's 3,366 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Simpson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Simpson 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 Simpson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Magee's 3,366 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Magee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,366 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Magee-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiMagee sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides