Missouri spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-8a, with a growing season of about 219 frost-free days — a generous window with room for succession plantings and warm-season crops that need time to finish.
The growing year is built on 34-50 inches of annual rainfall, a median of roughly 3,770 growing-degree days (base 50°F), and about 2,500 winter chill hours for tree fruit, and every crop choice answers to them. Dig almost anywhere and you'll meet silt loam, clay loam, loess, and chert-derived; how quickly they shed water is the first thing to learn about them. Within Missouri's borders sit genuinely different growing regions — Mississippi Delta, The Ozarks, and North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) — separated by zone band and frost timing. A short list that earns its place here — tomato, peach, grape, and dogwood — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Grounded inUSDA PHZM•NOAA Climate Normals•USDA NRCS SSURGO•GDD (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•Chill hours (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•USDA hardiness sub-region map•EPA FRS•USDA PLANTS•Growable Ground suitability scoring
Missouri spans zones 5b-8a, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 Missouri — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Distinct growing regions within Missouri — each has its own zones, soils, and signature crops.
Missouri: USDA zones 5b-8a, 192–258 frost-free days depending on the county, 115 counties.
The middle half of this state’s counties. Tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks past the last hard freeze. The shortest-season figure is Missouri's own county record — Crawford County's measured 28°F normal, not a modeled floor.
Missouri does not have one growing season. Across all 1041 of its towns that carry their own 30-year record, the shortest measured season is Newburg's at 192 days and the longest is Arbyrd's at 264 — a 72-day spread inside one state.
Neither end is a lone reading — another 24 towns measure within 10 days of Newburg and 30 sit within 10 days of Arbyrd. These are real pockets, so the number to plant against is your own town's, not the state average.
NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020), 30-year daily minimum record
Zone 5b-8a is Missouri's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Missouri's 219-day season, see what your own ground reads.
One answer for Missouri averages 115 counties whose growing seasons are 66 days apart — from 192 frost-free days in Crawford County to 258 in Pemiscot County. That is the same state, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your county sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 115 counties runs 211–225 days, with a median of 219 days — a 66-day span end to end.
Measured across 115 counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze. A county with no record of its own is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the state. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
The middle half of Missouri runs 211–225 frost-free days, and 52 of its 115 counties sit outside that — 27 on the short side, 25 on the long. A statewide planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 211 frost-free days
27 counties
3 of 27 shown
The end of the state that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
211–225 frost-free days
63 counties
0 of 63 shown
The middle half of the state, and the part a single statewide date describes well.
Over 225 frost-free days
25 counties
3 of 25 shown
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each county is placed by its own 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a yard within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
The soil types that dominate Missouri — how each drains decides more about crop success than almost anything else. Tap any soil to learn what it is and how to work with it. Each photo is a representative profile of that soil type; the named series is where it was documented, which is often another state.
Drainage
Moderate. Silt holds water well and releases it steadily, though the fine particles can crust after hard rain and compact under traffic.
What thrives
The full vegetable garden does well here, and small grains, corn, and leafy greens are classic silt-loam crops. Its steady moisture suits shallow-rooted plants that dislike drought stress.
Loam tilted toward clay — heavier in the hand, slower to dry, and richer in nutrients than its sandier cousins. Clay particles carry a surface charge that holds fertilizer and minerals where roots can reach them.
Drainage
Slow to moderate. Water lingers in the root zone longer than in loam, which is a gift in dry summers and a challenge in wet springs.
What thrives
Heavy feeders that appreciate steady moisture — brassicas, corn, beans, and many fruit trees. Perennials with strong root systems establish well once they are through the first season.
Drainage
Good — it absorbs rain readily and holds it in reach of roots — but it erodes faster than any other soil when left bare on a slope.
What thrives
Nearly everything: corn, small grains, and the full vegetable garden thrive in loess country, which is exactly why so much of it is farmed.
Soil formed over chert — hard, flinty silica nodules that survive when the limestone around them dissolves away. The result is gravelly, stony ground with sharp fragments through the whole profile.
Drainage
Fast. The chert fragments keep the soil open, and water rarely lingers.
What thrives
Deep-rooted, drought-tolerant plants: fruit trees, grapes, brambles, and native prairie and glade species that evolved on stony Ozark-type ground.
Soil data: USDA NRCS SSURGO · Soil types explained
Plants well-suited to Missouri's climate, soils, and growing season — each links to its full growing profile.
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Across Missouri, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Mar 29, with the middle half of counties between Mar 27 and Apr 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Oct 31 and Nov 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
The plants Missouri put its name on — cultural emblems, not growing recommendations.
Hawthorn
Crataegus
Designated 1923.
Cornus florida
Designated 1955. In our plant library — see its full growing profile.
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in Missouri — a real per-state range, not just a zone match. Ordered by how closely each plant’s published hardiness range matches Missouri’s zones 5b-8a, so this is a shortlist by climate fit, not a ranking of which plants matter most here. Presence is statewide, so a plant may still be uncommon in your specific county; your state’s Cooperative Extension or a native-plant society is the local authority.
US-native plants whose hardiness range overlaps Missouri’s USDA zones 5b-8a but which USDA PLANTS doesn’t map to a single state range here. Zone overlap is a starting filter, not a range map.
What an experienced grower plans around here — each one has a move.
Highly variable weather with late frosts and early heat
Let your local frost normals call the plantings — Missouri springs punish the calendar-planters and reward the patient.
Heavy clay soils in many regions
Raised beds solve clay drainage the first weekend — and yearly compost turns the ground under them into loam.
Ozark soils are thin and rocky
One soil test shows what thin Ozark ground actually holds — then build up with compost or beds where the depth runs out.
For cultivar selection, pest pressure, and planting-time guidance specific to Missouri, the MU Extension is the authoritative local source.
Safe to Grow Here?What the federal record shows across Missouri — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Missouri — 33,623 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 270 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Missouri carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Severity Distribution
across Missouri
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Missouri, two things run higher than the national average across Missouri — Mining (4,339 sites) and CAFO (595 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Everything above resolves to Missouri as a whole — a state whose own counties record seasons 66 days apart, and hardiness across zones 5b-8a. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 state 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 statewide average.
State averages sketch the shape. Your soil, sun exposure, drainage, and microclimate decide what actually takes. Pull a site-specific report for your exact parcel.
Enter your address. We read your soil, sun, drainage, and frost dates, then score 1,086 plants against the real conditions on your land.
Three things about your lot that Missouri averages can't show:
We read public map data around Missouri — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Missouri average
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read per county and aggregated to the state band; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each county’s own record; rainfall from NOAA Climate Normals; soils from USDA NRCS SSURGO; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above. Where a county carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Missouri spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-8a — which is to say winter's coldest night runs from about −15°F to 15°F depending where in Missouri you are, averaged over 1991–2020 (USDA PHZM 2023).
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Across Missouri, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Mar 29, with the middle half of counties between Mar 27 and Apr 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Oct 31 and Nov 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Across Missouri, the middle half of counties see their last hard freeze (28°F) between about Mar 27 and Apr 2, with a county median near Mar 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). 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 Apr 19.
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, growing seasons across Missouri's counties mostly run about 211 to 225 days, with a county median near 219 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender crops get a somewhat shorter practical window, since lighter frosts reach a few weeks past the hard-freeze dates on both ends.
Missouri's zones 5b-8a support a wide range — strong performers include Tomato, Peach, Grape, Dogwood, and Blackberry. What actually takes on any one site comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage, and we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
Officially, Missouri spans USDA zones 5b-8a (USDA PHZM 2023) — but a zone is a 30-year average of winter's coldest night across an area, and it can't see any one yard. A south-facing slope, a tree line, or a low frost pocket can shift a single site by half a zone either way, which is why neighboring gardeners often quote different numbers. We read the conditions at your exact address — soil, sun, slope, and frost — and score 1,086 plants against what's actually there.
The federal record across Missouri runs heavier than most — 33,623 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (14,548) — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Start with three facts. Missouri spans USDA zones 5b-8a, which sets what survives winter; last hard freezes range from about Mar 27 to Apr 2 across its counties (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and 33,623 documented sites sit on the federal record here, so a soil test before food beds is the smart first step. From there, matching plants to your actual soil and sun is the fun part.
Everything above is measured at Missouri's scale — its 5b-8a band and its 219-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Missouri's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
6 of the readings below were taken at Missouri's own scale — the full zone 5b-8a span inside its borders, the 4 soil types that dominate its ground and 33,623 documented sites on its federal record; anything it cannot resolve at this scale is named below.
Measured here
What this page can’t tell you
Explore growing conditions by county — each has its own zone range and land area.
Explore growing conditions by city or town in Missouri.
