Saucier, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Saucier, 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 Saucier 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 Saucier — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Saucier — the short answer
Saucier, Mississippi: USDA zone 9a, about 309 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 4
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~309
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Harrison County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Saucier's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Saucier's 309-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Saucier
Each reading below is measured for Saucier itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSaucier runs about 309 days between hard freezes (read from Harrison County, the closest normal to Saucier) — 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
MeasuredSaucier 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 Saucier is in
Saucier sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Saucier's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harrison County.
What Grows in Saucier
Every plant below cleared Saucier's own zone 9a and its 309-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Saucier?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Saucier
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Saucier. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Party PatchUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- West End SuperetteUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GOLDEN GULF CLASSICBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Windmill 1-stopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 047C0274 HARRISONNitrate · 1.1 mi
- 047C0081 HARRISONNitrate · 1.1 mi
- 047C0272 HARRISONNitrate · 1.2 mi
- Henry's PitstopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Fairley Road GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 047C0002 HARRISONNitrate · 1.2 mi
- 047B0174 HARRISONNitrate · 1.2 mi
- Margie DyerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Saucier'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 Saucier.
Total Sites
164
within ~10 miles of Saucier
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Saucier
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Saucier
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Saucier, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Saucier — PFAS (4 sites) and Nitrate (92 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Saucier
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 Saucier average
Your land is one point inside Saucier
Everything above resolves to Saucier as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Harrison 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 Saucier Average
Saucier Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Saucier
- ●One soil character for all of Saucier
- ●Frost dates read at Saucier's scale: Feb 4 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Saucier's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Saucier
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Saucier, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Saucier averages can't show:
We read public map data around Saucier — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Saucier average
How we know this about Saucier
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 Harrison 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 Saucier
When does frost risk typically end in Saucier?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Saucier typically lands around Feb 4, 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 Feb 25.
When is the first frost in Saucier?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Saucier typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 309 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Saucier?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Saucier sees about 309 frost-free days — roughly Feb 4 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 25 to Nov 26, about 274 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Saucier?
The federal record around Saucier is a meaningful one — 164 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (92), 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 Saucier?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Saucier's scale — its 9a band and its 309-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Saucier'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 Saucier’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Saucier's own scale — the 4,442 acres it covers and 164 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Saucier's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 164 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Saucier, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Saucier's boundary and the 4,442 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~309-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Saucier's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Saucier has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Harrison County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Saucier's 4,442 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harrison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harrison 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 Harrison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Saucier's 4,442 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Saucier you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,442 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 Saucier-wide figureread your own land →
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