Sumrall, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Sumrall, 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 Sumrall 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 Sumrall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Sumrall — the short answer
Sumrall, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 290 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Lamar County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Lamar County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~290
- Lamar County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Lamar County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Sumrall's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sumrall's 290-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sumrall
Each reading below is measured for Sumrall itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSumrall runs about 290 days between hard freezes (read from Lamar County, the closest normal to Sumrall) — 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
MeasuredSumrall 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 Sumrall is in
Sumrall sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sumrall's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lamar County.
What Grows in Sumrall
Every plant below cleared Sumrall's own zone 8b and its 290-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sumrall?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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 Sumrall
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sumrall. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 073B0037 LAMARNitrate · 250 ft
- 073B0001 LAMARNitrate · 750 ft
- 073B0003 LAMARNitrate · 950 ft
- Dandy Dan's #522Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Sumrall High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Sumrall ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Aultman Tire & ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Lake Serene Grocery SumrallUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Courtney IgaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MT GILEAD-IMPROVE WATER ASSNPFAS · 3.8 mi
- WEST LAMAR WATER ASSN #1PFAS · 3.8 mi
- 073A0008 LAMARNitrate · 5.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sumrall'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 Sumrall.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sumrall
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sumrall
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sumrall, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sumrall — PFAS (6 sites) and Nitrate (20 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 Sumrall
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 Sumrall average
Your land is one point inside Sumrall
Everything above resolves to Sumrall as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lamar 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 Sumrall Average
Sumrall Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Sumrall
- ●One soil character for all of Sumrall
- ●Frost dates read at Sumrall's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sumrall's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sumrall
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sumrall, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sumrall averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sumrall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sumrall average
How we know this about Sumrall
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 Lamar 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 Sumrall
When does frost risk typically end in Sumrall?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sumrall typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Sumrall?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sumrall typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 290 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sumrall?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sumrall sees about 290 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 19, about 255 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sumrall?
The federal record around Sumrall is a meaningful one — 73 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Sumrall?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sumrall's scale — its 8b band and its 290-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sumrall'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 Sumrall’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Sumrall's own scale — the 2,396 acres it covers and 73 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sumrall's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 73 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sumrall, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sumrall's boundary and the 2,396 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~290-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sumrall's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Sumrall has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lamar County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sumrall's 2,396 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lamar County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lamar 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 Lamar County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sumrall's 2,396 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sumrall you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,396 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Sumrall-wide figureread your own land →