Verona, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Verona, 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 Verona 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 Verona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Verona — the short answer
Verona, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 2K 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
- 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 Lee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Verona's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Verona's 266-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Verona
Each reading below is measured for Verona itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsVerona runs about 266 days between hard freezes (read from Lee County, the closest normal to Verona) — 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
MeasuredVerona 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 Verona is in
Verona sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Verona's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lee County.
What Grows in Verona
Every plant below cleared Verona'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 Verona?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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. 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 Verona
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Verona. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Aaa Cooper Transportation Freight SystemUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Express Shop #24Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Papa V's # 203Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- STYLELANDER METAL STAMPINGS INCToxics Release Inventory · 950 ft
- Williams 66Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Russell Phillips 66 Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- ELJER PLUMBINGWARE INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- Verona GulfUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- ACTION INDUSTRIES INCToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- Ray & JudyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- CARPENTER COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 1700 ft
- FOAMEX LPToxics Release Inventory · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Verona'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 Verona.
Total Sites
566
within ~10 miles of Verona
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Verona
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Verona
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Verona, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 59 sites within ~10 miles of Verona. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Verona
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 Verona average
Your land is one point inside Verona
Everything above resolves to Verona as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K 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 Verona Average
Verona Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Verona
- ●One soil character for all of Verona
- ●Frost dates read at Verona's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Verona's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Verona
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Verona, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Verona averages can't show:
We read public map data around Verona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Verona average
How we know this about Verona
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 Verona
When does frost risk typically end in Verona?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Verona 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 Verona?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Verona 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 Verona?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Verona 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 Verona?
The federal record around Verona is a meaningful one — 566 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (309), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Verona?
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 Verona's scale — its 8a band and its 266-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Verona'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 Verona’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Verona's own scale — the 2,350 acres it covers and 566 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Verona's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 566 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Verona, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Verona's boundary and the 2,350 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 Verona's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Verona 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 Verona's 2,350 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 Verona's 2,350 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Verona you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,350 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 Verona-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiVerona sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides