Pearl, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pearl, 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 Pearl 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 Pearl — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pearl — the short answer
Pearl, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 16K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- Rankin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Rankin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~278
- Rankin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 16K 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 Rankin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Pearl's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pearl's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pearl
Each reading below is measured for Pearl itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPearl runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Rankin County, the closest normal to Pearl) — 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
MeasuredPearl 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 Pearl is in
Pearl sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Pearl's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Rankin County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Pearl
Every plant below cleared Pearl's own zone 8b and its 278-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pearl?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (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 Pearl
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pearl. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Pickett Food Service Of Ms IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Mid South X Ray CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Quick Stop MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- 172nd Mag Motor PoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Tote Away GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- O E Dubois Grocery & General MerchandiseUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Klean Steel DivisionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Former Emery & PurolatorUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Multiple InvestmentsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Tote A Way GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Binswanger Glass CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Foote Trucking CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pearl'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 Pearl.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pearl
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pearl
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pearl, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 862 sites within ~10 miles of Pearl. 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 Pearl
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 Pearl average
Your land is one point inside Pearl
Everything above resolves to Pearl as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 16K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Rankin 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 Pearl Average
Pearl Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Pearl
- ●One soil character for all of Pearl
- ●Frost dates read at Pearl's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pearl's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pearl
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pearl, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pearl averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pearl — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pearl average
How we know this about Pearl
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 Rankin 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 Pearl
When does frost risk typically end in Pearl?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pearl typically lands around Feb 21, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Pearl?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pearl 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 278 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pearl?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pearl sees about 278 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 12, about 243 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pearl?
The federal record around Pearl is a meaningful one — 1,396 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (862), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Pearl?
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 Pearl's scale — its 8b band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pearl'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 Pearl’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Pearl's own scale — the 16,311 acres it covers and 1,396 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pearl's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,396 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pearl, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pearl's boundary and the 16,311 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Pearl sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pearl has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Rankin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pearl's 16,311 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rankin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rankin 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 Rankin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pearl's 16,311 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pearl you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 16,311 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Pearl-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiPearl sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.