Wesson, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wesson, 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 Wesson 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 Wesson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Wesson — the short answer
Wesson, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 281 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Copiah County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Copiah County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~281
- Copiah County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Copiah County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Wesson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wesson's 281-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wesson
Each reading below is measured for Wesson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWesson runs about 281 days between hard freezes (read from Copiah County, the closest normal to Wesson) — 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
MeasuredWesson 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 Wesson is in
Wesson sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Wesson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Copiah County.
What Grows in Wesson
Every plant below cleared Wesson's own zone 8b and its 281-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wesson?
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 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — 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 Wesson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wesson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Wesson Attendance CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Furr's Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Ashleys 51 StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Shop & WashUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Real Value FoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Abandoned Texaco Station/ Busy B Hair SalonUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- East End Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Copiah Lincoln Community CollegeUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- POTTER BRISTER REMEDIATION SITEBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- BFEL INDEMNITOR INC, POTTER PRODUCTION FACILITYSuperfund · 0.9 mi
- D & D GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Smith's One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wesson'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 Wesson.
Total Sites
213
within ~10 miles of Wesson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wesson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wesson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wesson, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Wesson. 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.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Wesson
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 Wesson average
Your land is one point inside Wesson
Everything above resolves to Wesson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Copiah 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 Wesson Average
Wesson Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Wesson
- ●One soil character for all of Wesson
- ●Frost dates read at Wesson's scale: Feb 17 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wesson's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wesson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wesson, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wesson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wesson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wesson average
How we know this about Wesson
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 Copiah 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 Wesson
When does frost risk typically end in Wesson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wesson typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Wesson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wesson typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 281 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wesson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wesson sees about 281 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 11, about 246 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wesson?
The federal record around Wesson is a meaningful one — 213 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (129), 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 Wesson?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wesson's scale — its 8b band and its 281-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wesson'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 Wesson’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Wesson's own scale — the 2,883 acres it covers and 213 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wesson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 213 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wesson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wesson's boundary and the 2,883 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~281-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wesson's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Wesson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Copiah County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wesson's 2,883 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Copiah County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Copiah 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 Copiah County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wesson's 2,883 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wesson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,883 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 Wesson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiWesson sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides