Meridian Station, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Meridian Station, 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 Meridian Station 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 Meridian Station — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Meridian Station — the short answer
Meridian Station, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Lauderdale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Lauderdale County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Meridian Station's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Meridian Station's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Meridian Station
Each reading below is measured for Meridian Station itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMeridian Station runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Lauderdale County, the closest normal to Meridian Station) — 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
MeasuredMeridian Station 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 Meridian Station is in
Meridian Station sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Meridian Station's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lauderdale County.
What Grows in Meridian Station
Every plant below cleared Meridian Station's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Meridian Station?
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 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Meridian Station
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Meridian Station. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NAVAL AIR STATION, MERIDIANToxics Release Inventory · 1100 ft
- NAVAL AIR STATION, MERIDIANBrownfields · 1100 ft
- USN AIR STATION MERIDIANSuperfund · 1400 ft
- 075C0004 LAUDERDALENitrate · 1600 ft
- 075C0003 LAUDERDALENitrate · 1800 ft
- Ezell's StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- NAS MERIDIAN FAMILY HOUSING PROJECTBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- 075D0011 LAUDERDALENitrate · 3.3 mi
- GENERAL BOX COToxics Release Inventory · 4.1 mi
- Peggys Country CornerUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Woodland Hills GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- 075C0012 LAUDERDALENitrate · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Meridian Station'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 Meridian Station.
Total Sites
98
within ~10 miles of Meridian Station
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Meridian Station
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Meridian Station
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Meridian Station, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Meridian Station — Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites) and Nitrate (28 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Meridian Station
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 Meridian Station average
Your land is one point inside Meridian Station
Everything above resolves to Meridian Station as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lauderdale 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 Meridian Station Average
Meridian Station Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Meridian Station
- ●One soil character for all of Meridian Station
- ●Frost dates read at Meridian Station's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Meridian Station's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Meridian Station
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Meridian Station, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Meridian Station averages can't show:
We read public map data around Meridian Station — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Meridian Station average
How we know this about Meridian Station
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 Lauderdale 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 Meridian Station
When does frost risk typically end in Meridian Station?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Meridian Station typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Meridian Station?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Meridian Station typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Meridian Station?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Meridian Station sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 13, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Meridian Station?
The federal record around Meridian Station is a meaningful one — 98 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (54), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Meridian Station?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Meridian Station's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Meridian Station'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 Meridian Station’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Meridian Station's own scale — the 1,060 acres it covers and 98 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Meridian Station's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 98 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Meridian Station, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Meridian Station's boundary and the 1,060 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Meridian Station's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Meridian Station has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lauderdale County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Meridian Station's 1,060 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lauderdale County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Meridian Station's 1,060 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Meridian Station you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,060 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Meridian Station-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiMeridian Station sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides