Richton, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Richton, 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 Richton 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 Richton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Richton — the short answer
Richton, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 283 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Perry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Perry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~283
- Perry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Perry County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Richton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Richton's 283-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Richton
Each reading below is measured for Richton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRichton runs about 283 days between hard freezes (read from Perry County, the closest normal to Richton) — 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
MeasuredRichton 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 Richton is in
Richton sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Richton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Perry County.
What Grows in Richton
Every plant below cleared Richton's own zone 8b and its 283-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Richton?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (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 Richton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Richton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- B & A FastwayUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- 111C0010 PERRYNitrate · 750 ft
- Richton School DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Walco Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Willis Henderson Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Tim's Richton ExxonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Tim's AmocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Richton VideoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Logger's DepoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Walco Convenience StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- 111C0008 PERRYNitrate · 2100 ft
- Tater's Food & FuelUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Richton'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 Richton.
Total Sites
66
within ~10 miles of Richton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Richton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Richton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Richton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Richton — PFAS (3 sites) and Nitrate (32 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Richton
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 Richton average
Your land is one point inside Richton
Everything above resolves to Richton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Perry 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 Richton Average
Richton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Richton
- ●One soil character for all of Richton
- ●Frost dates read at Richton's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Richton's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Richton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Richton, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Richton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Richton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Richton average
How we know this about Richton
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 Perry 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 Richton
When does frost risk typically end in Richton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Richton typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Richton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Richton 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 283 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Richton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Richton sees about 283 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 16, about 248 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Richton?
The federal record around Richton shows 66 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (32), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Richton?
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 Richton's scale — its 8b band and its 283-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Richton'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 Richton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Richton's own scale — the 1,468 acres it covers and 66 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Richton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 66 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Richton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Richton's boundary and the 1,468 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~283-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Richton's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Richton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Perry County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Richton's 1,468 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Perry County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Perry 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 Perry County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Richton's 1,468 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Richton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,468 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Richton-wide figureread your own land →
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