Picayune, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Picayune, 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 Picayune 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 Picayune — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Picayune — the short answer
Picayune, Mississippi: USDA zone 9a, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Pearl River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Pearl River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Pearl River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 12K 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 Pearl River County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Picayune's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Picayune's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Picayune
Each reading below is measured for Picayune itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPicayune runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Pearl River County, the closest normal to Picayune) — 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
MeasuredPicayune sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Picayune is in
Picayune sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Picayune's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Pearl River County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Picayune
Every plant below cleared Picayune's own zone 9a and its 293-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Picayune?
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 Dec 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Picayune
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Picayune. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BOBS TRUCK MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRBrownfields · 1700 ft
- MARVIN SEAL CHEVOLET BUICK INCBrownfields · 2000 ft
- CHAUVIN BROTHERS TRACTORBrownfields · 2000 ft
- BUDDYS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 2200 ft
- L J AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 2200 ft
- Faith Grocery & DeliUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- The Pit StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SPIERS TIRE AND SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 2600 ft
- Mitchell's GulfUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Bst Picayune Co 77113Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Easley's Gas And GroceriesUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Picayune'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 Picayune.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Picayune
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Picayune
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Picayune, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Picayune — Superfund (5 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Picayune
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 Picayune average
Your land is one point inside Picayune
Everything above resolves to Picayune as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 12K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pearl River 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 Picayune Average
Picayune Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Picayune
- ●One soil character for all of Picayune
- ●Frost dates read at Picayune's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Picayune's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Picayune
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Picayune, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Picayune averages can't show:
We read public map data around Picayune — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Picayune average
How we know this about Picayune
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 Pearl River 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 Picayune
When does frost risk typically end in Picayune?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Picayune 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 Picayune?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Picayune typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Picayune?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Picayune sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 20, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Picayune?
The federal record around Picayune is a meaningful one — 218 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (104), the nearest Brownfields 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 Picayune?
From about Nov 4 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 Dec 4 (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 Dec 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Picayune's scale — its 9a band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Picayune'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 Picayune’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Picayune's own scale — the 11,544 acres it covers and 218 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Picayune's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 218 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Picayune, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Picayune's boundary and the 11,544 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~293-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Picayune sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Picayune has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pearl River County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Picayune's 11,544 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pearl River County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pearl River 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 Pearl River County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Picayune's 11,544 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Picayune you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,544 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Picayune-wide figureread your own land →