West Point, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in West Point, 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 West Point 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 West Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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West Point — the short answer
West Point, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 266 days between hard freezes, across 13K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 1
- Clay County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Clay County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~266
- Clay County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 13K 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 Clay County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is West Point's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against West Point's 266-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in West Point
Each reading below is measured for West Point itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWest Point runs about 266 days between hard freezes (read from Clay County, the closest normal to West Point) — 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
MeasuredWest Point 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 West Point is in
West Point sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at West Point's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clay County.
What Grows in West Point
Every plant below cleared West Point'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 West Point?
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 Feb 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — 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 West Point
Closest first, within ~10 miles of West Point. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SOUTHERN IONICS INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 250 ft
- SOUTHERN IONICS INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 250 ft
- Smith's Bakery IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- New Mart #11Underground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Sprint Mart #4141 (West Main)Underground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Curtis ShinnUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Wray's GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Cox Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Ms Cvs PharmacyUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Discount Tobacco & BrewUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- West Point Car CareUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #2038Brownfields · 700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from West Point'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 West Point.
Total Sites
161
within ~10 miles of West Point
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of West Point
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of West Point
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around West Point, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 14 sites within ~10 miles of West Point. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 West Point
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 West Point average
Your land is one point inside West Point
Everything above resolves to West Point as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 13K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clay 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 West Point Average
West Point Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across West Point
- ●One soil character for all of West Point
- ●Frost dates read at West Point's scale: Mar 1 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not West Point's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in West Point
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in West Point, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that West Point averages can't show:
We read public map data around West Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the West Point average
How we know this about West Point
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 Clay 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 West Point
When does frost risk typically end in West Point?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in West Point typically lands around Mar 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in West Point?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in West Point typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 266 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in West Point?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, West Point sees about 266 frost-free days — roughly Mar 1 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 22 to Nov 8, about 231 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in West Point?
The federal record around West Point is a meaningful one — 161 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (97), the nearest Brownfields 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 West Point?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at West Point's scale — its 8a band and its 266-day season. Your yard writes its own version of West Point'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 West Point’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at West Point's own scale — the 13,370 acres it covers and 161 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- West Point's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 161 documented contamination sites on the federal record near West Point, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- West Point's boundary and the 13,370 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 West Point's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — West Point has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clay County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so West Point's 13,370 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clay County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clay 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 Clay County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among West Point's 13,370 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of West Point you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,370 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 West Point-wide figureread your own land →
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