Philadelphia, 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.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Philadelphia, 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 Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Philadelphia — the short answer
Philadelphia, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 268 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 1
- Neshoba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Neshoba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~268
- Neshoba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Neshoba County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Philadelphia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Philadelphia's 268-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Philadelphia
Each reading below is measured for Philadelphia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPhiladelphia runs about 268 days between hard freezes (read from Neshoba County, the closest normal to Philadelphia) — 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
MeasuredPhiladelphia 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 Philadelphia is in
Philadelphia sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Philadelphia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Neshoba County.
What Grows in Philadelphia
Every plant below cleared Philadelphia's own zone 8b and its 268-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Philadelphia?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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 Philadelphia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Philadelphia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- V W SavellUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Louisiana Pacific CorporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- FOXS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1400 ft
- In & Out GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Daly Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Nordan SmithUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Beacon Street Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Ethridge's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Daly Amoco Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Lou Petty's 66Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Philadelphia DepotUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Firehouse BBQUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Philadelphia'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 Philadelphia.
Total Sites
169
within ~10 miles of Philadelphia
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Philadelphia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Philadelphia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Philadelphia, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Philadelphia — CAFO (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (114 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Philadelphia
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 Philadelphia average
Your land is one point inside Philadelphia
Everything above resolves to Philadelphia as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Neshoba 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 Philadelphia Average
Philadelphia Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Philadelphia
- ●One soil character for all of Philadelphia
- ●Frost dates read at Philadelphia's scale: Mar 1 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Philadelphia's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Philadelphia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Philadelphia, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Philadelphia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Philadelphia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Philadelphia average
How we know this about Philadelphia
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 Neshoba 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 Philadelphia
When does frost risk typically end in Philadelphia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Philadelphia typically lands around Mar 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Philadelphia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Philadelphia typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 268 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Philadelphia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Philadelphia sees about 268 frost-free days — roughly Mar 1 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 22 to Nov 10, about 233 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Philadelphia?
The federal record around Philadelphia shows 169 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (114), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Philadelphia?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Philadelphia's scale — its 8b band and its 268-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Philadelphia'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 Philadelphia’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Philadelphia's own scale — the 7,815 acres it covers and 169 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Philadelphia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 169 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Philadelphia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Philadelphia's boundary and the 7,815 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~268-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Philadelphia's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Philadelphia has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Neshoba County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Philadelphia's 7,815 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Neshoba County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Neshoba 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 Neshoba County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Philadelphia's 7,815 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Philadelphia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,815 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Philadelphia-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiPhiladelphia sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides