Starkville, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Starkville, 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 Starkville 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 Starkville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Starkville — the short answer
Starkville, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 269 days between hard freezes, across 18K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- Oktibbeha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Oktibbeha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~269
- Oktibbeha County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 18K 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 Oktibbeha County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Starkville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Starkville's 269-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Starkville
Each reading below is measured for Starkville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsStarkville runs about 269 days between hard freezes (read from Oktibbeha County, the closest normal to Starkville) — 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
MeasuredStarkville sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Starkville is in
Starkville sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Starkville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oktibbeha County.
What Grows in Starkville
Every plant below cleared Starkville's own zone 8a and its 269-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Starkville?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (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 Starkville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Starkville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 105G0027 OKTIBBEHANitrate · 1800 ft
- 82 One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Starkville Municipal Sep SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Green Oaks SuperetteUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Starkville Discount DrugUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- ALLEN EDWARDS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- B G SuperetteUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Sunrise ExpressUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Oktibbeha County Sherriff's DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- STARKVILLE ONE HOUR CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Quick & PicUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- NORTHEAST COCA COLA BOTTLINGBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Starkville'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 Starkville.
Total Sites
167
within ~10 miles of Starkville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Starkville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Starkville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Starkville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Starkville — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (105 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Starkville
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 Starkville average
Your land is one point inside Starkville
Everything above resolves to Starkville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 18K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Oktibbeha 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 Starkville Average
Starkville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Starkville
- ●One soil character for all of Starkville
- ●Frost dates read at Starkville's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Starkville's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Starkville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Starkville, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Starkville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Starkville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Starkville average
How we know this about Starkville
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 Oktibbeha 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 Starkville
When does frost risk typically end in Starkville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Starkville typically lands around Feb 28, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Starkville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Starkville 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 269 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Starkville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Starkville sees about 269 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 10, about 234 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Starkville?
The federal record around Starkville is a meaningful one — 167 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (105), the nearest Nitrate 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 Starkville?
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 Starkville's scale — its 8a band and its 269-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Starkville'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 Starkville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Starkville's own scale — the 17,768 acres it covers and 167 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Starkville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 167 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Starkville, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Starkville's boundary and the 17,768 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~269-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Starkville's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Starkville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Oktibbeha County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Starkville's 17,768 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oktibbeha County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oktibbeha 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 Oktibbeha County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Starkville's 17,768 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Starkville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 17,768 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Starkville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Growing region
Nearby growing guides