Missouri spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-7a, with a growing season of about 190 frost-free days — room for most garden staples, with a calendar tight enough that frost dates still call the shots.
The growing year is built on 34-50 inches of annual rainfall, a median of roughly 3,850 growing-degree days (base 50°F), and about 1,050 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 and The Ozarks — 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 2023•NOAA Climate Normals•USDA NRCS SSURGO•GDD aggregate (Cornell CALS)•Chill-hour aggregate (MSU Extension)•USDA hardiness sub-region map•EPA FRS•USDA PLANTS•Growable Ground suitability scoring
Missouri spans zones 5b-7a, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. Enter your address and we'll score 1,112 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data for this spot — 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.
USDA Zones
5b-7a
USDA PHZM 2023
Last Frost
Apr 5 - Apr 25
NOAA 30-yr Normals
First Frost
Oct 5 - Oct 30
NOAA 30-yr Normals
Annual Rainfall
34-50 inches
NOAA Climate Normals
Zone maps are averages across Missouri. Your yard's slope, trees, and frost pockets shift what actually grows — see your land's exact reading.
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.
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.
No verified open-license photo yet — this loam is close kin to the loam and silt-loam profiles above.
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.
No verified open-license photo yet — gravelly, flinty ground; see the decomposed-granite image for the stony texture.
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 10, with the middle half of counties between Mar 6 and Mar 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Nov 21 and 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.
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. 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-7a 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 — 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.
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 1,112 plants against the real conditions on your land.
Three things about your exact spot that zone averages miss:
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources analyzed in seconds
Missouri spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-7a, per the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 weather data.
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 10, with the middle half of counties between Mar 6 and Mar 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Nov 21 and 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.
Across Missouri, the middle half of counties see their last hard freeze (28°F) between about Mar 6 and Mar 15, with a county median near Mar 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — light frosts can still bite for a few more weeks, so tender transplants usually wait another 2–3 weeks.
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, growing seasons across Missouri's counties mostly run about 251 to 267 days, with a county median near 260 (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-7a 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-7a (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 1,112 plants against what's actually there.
The federal record across Missouri runs heavier than most — 33,623 documented sites — 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-7a, which sets what survives winter; last hard freezes range from about Mar 6 to Mar 15 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 on this page is a Missouri average. Your yard writes its own version — we read soil, sun, drainage, and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Explore growing conditions by county — each has its own zone range and land area.
Explore growing conditions by city or town in Missouri.
