Monticello, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Monticello, 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 Monticello 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 Monticello — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Monticello — the short answer
Monticello, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 281 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Lawrence County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Lawrence County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~281
- Lawrence County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Lawrence County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Monticello's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Monticello's 281-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Monticello
Each reading below is measured for Monticello itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMonticello runs about 281 days between hard freezes (read from Lawrence County, the closest normal to Monticello) — 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
MeasuredMonticello 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 Monticello is in
Monticello sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Monticello's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lawrence County.
What Grows in Monticello
Every plant below cleared Monticello's own zone 8b and its 281-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Monticello?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Monticello
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Monticello. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ms State Highway DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- MONTICELLO HARDWOOD INC, MONTICELLOToxics Release Inventory · 2200 ft
- Mary M StewartUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- B & L Pit StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- S & D FoodMartUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Ready's Gulf ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Monticello TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Lawrence County District 3 BarnUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- ERWIN BODY SHOPBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- 077G0003 LAWRENCENitrate · 0.6 mi
- BlueSky #492Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Monticello'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 Monticello.
Total Sites
85
within ~10 miles of Monticello
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Monticello
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Monticello
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Monticello, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 54 sites within ~10 miles of Monticello. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Monticello
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 Monticello average
Your land is one point inside Monticello
Everything above resolves to Monticello as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lawrence 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 Monticello Average
Monticello Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Monticello
- ●One soil character for all of Monticello
- ●Frost dates read at Monticello's scale: Feb 18 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Monticello's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Monticello
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Monticello, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Monticello averages can't show:
We read public map data around Monticello — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Monticello average
How we know this about Monticello
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 Lawrence 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 Monticello
When does frost risk typically end in Monticello?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Monticello typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Monticello?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Monticello typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 281 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Monticello?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Monticello sees about 281 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 12, about 246 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Monticello?
The federal record around Monticello shows 85 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (54), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Monticello?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Monticello's scale — its 8b band and its 281-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Monticello'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 Monticello’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Monticello's own scale — the 2,669 acres it covers and 85 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Monticello's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 85 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Monticello, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Monticello's boundary and the 2,669 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~281-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Monticello's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Monticello has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lawrence County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Monticello's 2,669 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lawrence County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lawrence 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 Lawrence County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Monticello's 2,669 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Monticello you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,669 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 Monticello-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiMonticello sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides