Natchez, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Natchez, 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 Natchez 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 Natchez — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Natchez — the short answer
Natchez, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Adams County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Adams County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Adams County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 10K 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 Adams County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Natchez's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Natchez's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Natchez
Each reading below is measured for Natchez itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNatchez runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Adams County, the closest normal to Natchez) — 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
MeasuredNatchez 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 Natchez is in
Natchez sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Natchez's own centroid rather than borrowed from Adams County.
What Grows in Natchez
Every plant below cleared Natchez's own zone 8b and its 289-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Natchez?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Natchez
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Natchez. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Meason Operating CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Abandoned SiteUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- ADVANCE AUTO PARTS #9834Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- Super Saver NatchezUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Bypass TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ANDREWS RADIATOR SERVICE, PRENTISSBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- OATHERS AUTOMOTIVE CENTERBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Sprint Mart #62Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Tracetown Shopping CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Thompson Tree & Spray Service InUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BlueSky #511Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Natchez'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 Natchez.
Total Sites
411
within ~10 miles of Natchez
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
13 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Natchez
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Natchez
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Natchez
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 Natchez average
Your land is one point inside Natchez
Everything above resolves to Natchez as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Adams 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 Natchez Average
Natchez Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Natchez
- ●One soil character for all of Natchez
- ●Frost dates read at Natchez's scale: Feb 14 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Natchez's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Natchez
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Natchez, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Natchez averages can't show:
We read public map data around Natchez — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Natchez average
How we know this about Natchez
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 Adams 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 Natchez
When does frost risk typically end in Natchez?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Natchez typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Natchez?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Natchez typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Natchez?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Natchez sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 16, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Natchez?
The federal record around Natchez is a meaningful one — 411 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (226), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Natchez?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Natchez's scale — its 8b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Natchez'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 Natchez’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Natchez's own scale — the 10,122 acres it covers and 411 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Natchez's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 411 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Natchez, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Natchez's boundary and the 10,122 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Natchez's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Natchez has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Adams County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Natchez's 10,122 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Adams County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Adams 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 Adams County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Natchez's 10,122 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Natchez you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,122 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Natchez-wide figureread your own land →
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