Tupelo, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Tupelo, 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 Tupelo 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 Tupelo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tupelo — the short answer
Tupelo, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 41K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~266
- Lee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 41K 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 Lee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Tupelo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tupelo's 266-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tupelo
Each reading below is measured for Tupelo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTupelo runs about 266 days between hard freezes (read from Lee County, the closest normal to Tupelo) — 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
MeasuredTupelo 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 Tupelo is in
Tupelo sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Tupelo's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lee County.
What Grows in Tupelo
Every plant below cleared Tupelo's own zone 8a and its 266-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tupelo?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (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. 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 Tupelo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tupelo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MSNG ORGANIZATIONAL MAINT. SHOP #2Brownfields · 2100 ft
- 081G0012 LEENitrate · 2100 ft
- Chevron One Stop #6Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Calloway's Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- B AND B CONCRETE CO INC, TUPELO DIVToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- TUPELO MANUFACTURING COMPANYBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- LEGGETT AND PLATT INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Bel Air Golf CourseUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- J & E Trading PostUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- North Gloster TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Savings StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BARBER PURE MILK COToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tupelo'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 Tupelo.
Total Sites
595
within ~10 miles of Tupelo
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tupelo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tupelo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tupelo, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Tupelo — Toxics Release Inventory (70 sites) and PFAS (6 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Tupelo
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 Tupelo average
Your land is one point inside Tupelo
Everything above resolves to Tupelo as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 41K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lee 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 Tupelo Average
Tupelo Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Tupelo
- ●One soil character for all of Tupelo
- ●Frost dates read at Tupelo's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tupelo's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tupelo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tupelo, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tupelo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tupelo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tupelo average
How we know this about Tupelo
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 Lee 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 Tupelo
When does frost risk typically end in Tupelo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tupelo typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Tupelo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tupelo 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 266 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tupelo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tupelo sees about 266 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 10, about 231 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tupelo?
The federal record around Tupelo is a meaningful one — 595 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (324), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Tupelo?
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 Tupelo's scale — its 8a band and its 266-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tupelo'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 Tupelo’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Tupelo's own scale — the 41,205 acres it covers and 595 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tupelo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 595 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tupelo, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tupelo's boundary and the 41,205 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~266-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tupelo's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Tupelo has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tupelo's 41,205 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lee 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 Lee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tupelo's 41,205 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tupelo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 41,205 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Tupelo-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiTupelo sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides