Mathiston, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Mathiston, 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 Mathiston 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 Mathiston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mathiston — the short answer
Mathiston, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 247 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 13
- Webster County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 15
- Webster County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~247
- Webster County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Webster County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Mathiston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mathiston's 247-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mathiston
Each reading below is measured for Mathiston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMathiston runs about 247 days between hard freezes (read from Webster County, the closest normal to Mathiston) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMathiston 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 Mathiston is in
Mathiston sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mathiston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Webster County.
What Grows in Mathiston
Every plant below cleared Mathiston's own zone 8a and its 247-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mathiston?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Mathiston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mathiston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Smith GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- Newmart #101Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Mathiston Motor CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Traceway RestaurantUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Swindle's One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- 155J0004 WEBSTERNitrate · 900 ft
- Town Of MathistonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Mathiston MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Shell Gas And MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Mathiston One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 155J0003 WEBSTERNitrate · 0.6 mi
- 019B0002 CHOCTAWNitrate · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mathiston'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 Mathiston.
Total Sites
105
within ~10 miles of Mathiston
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mathiston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mathiston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mathiston, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Mathiston. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Mathiston
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 Mathiston average
Your land is one point inside Mathiston
Everything above resolves to Mathiston as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Webster 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 Mathiston Average
Mathiston Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Mathiston
- ●One soil character for all of Mathiston
- ●Frost dates read at Mathiston's scale: Mar 13 to Nov 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mathiston's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mathiston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mathiston, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mathiston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mathiston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mathiston average
How we know this about Mathiston
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 Webster 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 Mathiston
When does frost risk typically end in Mathiston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mathiston typically lands around Mar 13, 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 Apr 3.
When is the first frost in Mathiston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mathiston typically arrives around Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 1, so the watching starts about Oct 16 — about 247 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mathiston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mathiston sees about 247 frost-free days — roughly Mar 13 through Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 3 to Nov 1, about 212 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mathiston?
The federal record around Mathiston is a meaningful one — 105 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (54), 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 Mathiston?
From about Oct 16 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mathiston's scale — its 8a band and its 247-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mathiston'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 Mathiston’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mathiston's own scale — the 1,602 acres it covers and 105 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mathiston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 105 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mathiston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mathiston's boundary and the 1,602 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~247-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mathiston's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mathiston has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Webster County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mathiston's 1,602 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Webster County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Webster 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 Webster County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mathiston's 1,602 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mathiston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,602 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 Mathiston-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiMathiston sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.