Maries County, in Missouri, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Maries County lies within the Ozarks — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Maries County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Maries County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Maries County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Maries County — the short answer
Maries County, Missouri: USDA zone 6b, about 208 days between hard freezes, across 337K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~208
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 337K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6b is Maries County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Maries County's 208-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Maries County
Across a year, Maries County accumulates about 3,682 growing degree days above 50°F, about 71 fewer than the middle Missouri county — ahead of 44 of Missouri’s 115 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Maries County
Across Maries County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Gatewood, Rueter, and Union are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.2–6.8, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
2%
Hydric soils
3%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Maries County
The USDA soil survey maps 61% of Maries County as moderately well drained — but another 40% drains differently: 15% somewhat excessively drained, 15% well drained.
Gatewood is the most extensive named soil at 21% of mapped acres, then Rueter (15%) and Union (14%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Maries County
Each reading below is measured for Maries County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Maries County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group D — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Maries County runs about pH 5.2–6.8, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredMaries County runs about 208 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMaries County sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Maries County is in
Maries County sits in the Ozark Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Maries County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Maries County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 208-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Missouri profile.
Is it too late to plant in Maries County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
Documented around Maries County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Maries County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 319 miles off. What to watch for.
What gets applied to farmland in Maries County
USGS estimates 7,115 lb of 2,4-d on Maries County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (6,999 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (1,788 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Maries County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Maries County — 67 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Maries County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Maries County
Closest first, across Maries County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DAIRY PARK LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- FARMERS ELEVATORUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- HONSE FARMCAFO · 1.6 mi
- FEELER LUMBER COMPANYSuperfund · 1.6 mi
- HONSE IMP COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- CELLUS STRATMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- WEIDINGER CHEVROLET INCBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- WANSING 66 SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- VIENNA LAUNDRYMATUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- VIENNA QUICK STOP INC PHILLIP 66Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- PLAZA SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- VIN COV-01Nitrate · 2.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Maries County'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 Maries County.
Sources Checked
across Maries County
Severity Distribution
across Maries County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Maries County, two things run higher than the national average across Maries County — CAFO (4 sites) and Nitrate (20 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Maries County
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 Maries County average
Your land is one point inside Maries County
Everything above resolves to Maries County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 337K acres. 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Maries County Average
Maries County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Maries County
- ●One soil character for all of Maries County
- ●Frost dates read at Maries County's scale: Apr 1 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Maries County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Maries County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Maries County, Missouri — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Maries County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Maries County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Maries County average
How we know this about Maries County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Maries County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Maries County
When does frost risk typically end in Maries County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Maries County typically lands around Apr 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 Apr 22.
How long is the growing season in Maries County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Maries County sees about 208 frost-free days — roughly Apr 1 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 22 to Oct 12, about 173 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Maries County?
The federal record around Maries County is a meaningful one — 67 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (27), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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.
Everything above is measured at Maries County's scale — its 6b band and its 208-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Maries County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Missouri's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Maries County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Maries County's own scale — its own ~208-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 67 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Maries County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Maries County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~208-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Maries CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 67 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Maries County's boundary and the 337,267 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~208-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Maries County sitting wholly inside the Ozark HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Maries County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Missouri grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Missouri
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Maries County — the ~208 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Maries County's 337,267 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 67 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Maries Countyread your own land →