Denton, Missouri, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Denton, 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 Denton 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 Denton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Denton — the short answer
Denton, Missouri: USDA zone 7b, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 242 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 242 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 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 7b is Denton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Denton's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Denton
Each reading below is measured for Denton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDenton runs about 261 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredDenton sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Denton is in
Denton sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Denton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pemiscot County.
What Grows in Denton
Every plant below cleared Denton's own zone 7b and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's Missouri profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Denton?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Denton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Denton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GARDNER NORRIS & SON SERV STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- CLASSIC CARBON & RIBBONToxics Release Inventory · 2.5 mi
- T16N R11E 04BAC1Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- T17N R11E 26ACC1Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- FLASH MARKET #173Underground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR # 2952Brownfields · 3.7 mi
- PEMISCOT PETRLEUM COUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- SOUTH PEMISCOT OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- DEERFIELD TRAVEL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- RACEWAY #852Underground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- CARMACS SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- #1761 CAR MAC'S COASTAL #203Underground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Denton'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 Denton.
Total Sites
45
within ~10 miles of Denton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Denton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Denton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Denton, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of Denton. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Denton
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 Denton average
Your land is one point inside Denton
Everything above resolves to Denton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 242 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 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 Denton Average
Denton Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Denton
- ●One soil character for all of Denton
- ●Frost dates read at Denton's scale: Mar 8 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Denton's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Denton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Denton, Missouri — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Denton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Denton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Denton average
How we know this about Denton
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 Denton’s own record; 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 Denton
When does frost risk typically end in Denton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Denton typically lands around Mar 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Denton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Denton typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Denton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Denton sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 8 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 29 to Nov 10, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Denton?
The federal record around Denton is a meaningful one — 45 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (20), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.5 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 Denton?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Denton's scale — its 7b band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Denton'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 Denton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Denton's own scale — its own ~261-day season between 28°F freezes, the 242 acres it covers and 45 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Denton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Denton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 8 and Nov 24 and the ~261-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 45 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Denton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Denton's boundary and the 242 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Denton's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Denton's 242 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pemiscot County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pemiscot County
- The growing challenges every Missouri grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Missouri
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Pemiscot County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Denton's 242 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Denton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 242 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.5 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 Denton-wide figureread your own land →