Vicksburg, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Vicksburg, 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 Vicksburg 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 Vicksburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Vicksburg — the short answer
Vicksburg, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 21K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Warren County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Warren County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- Warren County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 21K 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 Warren County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Vicksburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Vicksburg's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Vicksburg
Each reading below is measured for Vicksburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsVicksburg runs about 286 days between hard freezes (read from Warren County, the closest normal to Vicksburg) — 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
MeasuredVicksburg 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 Vicksburg is in
Vicksburg sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Vicksburg's own centroid rather than borrowed from Warren County.
What Grows in Vicksburg
Every plant below cleared Vicksburg's own zone 8b and its 286-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Vicksburg?
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 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — 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 Vicksburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Vicksburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Hawkins Field (former Army Airfield)Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- River Region West CampusUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MERIT HEALTH RIVER REGION WEST CAMPUSBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Suds N Smokes # 202Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CVS PHARMACY NUMBER 10400Brownfields · 1700 ft
- Interstate Station #28Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- KROGER #466-25Brownfields · 2500 ft
- Saxton'sUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SAXTONS GARAGEBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- V-466 Kroger Fuel CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- HOME DEPOT STORE #2909Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- Circle K # 2723443Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Vicksburg'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 Vicksburg.
Total Sites
282
within ~10 miles of Vicksburg
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Vicksburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Vicksburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Vicksburg, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Vicksburg — Superfund (6 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (22 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Vicksburg
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 Vicksburg average
Your land is one point inside Vicksburg
Everything above resolves to Vicksburg as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 21K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Warren 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 Vicksburg Average
Vicksburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Vicksburg
- ●One soil character for all of Vicksburg
- ●Frost dates read at Vicksburg's scale: Feb 15 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Vicksburg's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Vicksburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Vicksburg, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Vicksburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Vicksburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Vicksburg average
How we know this about Vicksburg
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 Warren 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 Vicksburg
When does frost risk typically end in Vicksburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Vicksburg typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Vicksburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Vicksburg typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 286 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Vicksburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Vicksburg sees about 286 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 14, about 251 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Vicksburg?
The federal record around Vicksburg is a meaningful one — 282 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (163), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Vicksburg?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Vicksburg's scale — its 8b band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Vicksburg'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 Vicksburg’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Vicksburg's own scale — the 21,131 acres it covers and 282 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Vicksburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 282 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Vicksburg, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Vicksburg's boundary and the 21,131 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~286-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Vicksburg's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Vicksburg has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Warren County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Vicksburg's 21,131 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Warren County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Warren 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 Warren County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Vicksburg's 21,131 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Vicksburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 21,131 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Vicksburg-wide figureread your own land →
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