Hannibal, Missouri, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, blueberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Hannibal, 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 Hannibal 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 Hannibal — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hannibal — the short answer
Hannibal, Missouri: USDA zone 6a, about 226 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~226
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 10K 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 6a is Hannibal's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hannibal's 226-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hannibal
Each reading below is measured for Hannibal itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHannibal runs about 226 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
MeasuredHannibal sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Hannibal is in
Hannibal sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hannibal's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marion County.
What Grows in Hannibal
Every plant below cleared Hannibal's own zone 6a and its 226-day season. Each card opens that plant's Missouri profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hannibal?
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 Mar 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Hannibal
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hannibal. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALGREENS #2616Brownfields · 1100 ft
- KETT'S CLARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #10345Brownfields · 1300 ft
- ROL-ARENA SKATING RINKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- AYERCO #24Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BRO AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- YESWAY #1132Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- ABELS QUIK SHOP #6Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- CASEYS GENERAL STORE # 3313Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- OREILLY AUTO PARTS STORE 359Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- YESWAY #1128Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BETH HAVEN NURSING HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hannibal'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 Hannibal.
Total Sites
203
within ~10 miles of Hannibal
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
18 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hannibal
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hannibal
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hannibal, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Hannibal. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Hannibal
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 Hannibal average
Your land is one point inside Hannibal
Everything above resolves to Hannibal as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 10K 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 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 Hannibal Average
Hannibal Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Hannibal
- ●One soil character for all of Hannibal
- ●Frost dates read at Hannibal's scale: Mar 29 to Nov 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hannibal's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hannibal
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hannibal, Missouri — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hannibal averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hannibal — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hannibal average
How we know this about Hannibal
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 Hannibal’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 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 Hannibal
When does frost risk typically end in Hannibal?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hannibal typically lands around Mar 29, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Hannibal?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hannibal typically arrives around Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 27, so the watching starts about Oct 11 — about 226 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hannibal?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hannibal sees about 226 frost-free days — roughly Mar 29 through Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 19 to Oct 27, about 191 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hannibal?
The federal record around Hannibal is a meaningful one — 203 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (123), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Hannibal?
From about Oct 11 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hannibal's scale — its 6a band and its 226-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hannibal'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 Hannibal’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hannibal's own scale — its own ~226-day season between 28°F freezes, the 10,247 acres it covers and 203 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hannibal's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hannibal's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 29 and Nov 10 and the ~226-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 203 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hannibal, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hannibal's boundary and the 10,247 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~226-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hannibal's own centroid, the Interior River Valleys and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hannibal's 10,247 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marion County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marion 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 Marion County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hannibal's 10,247 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hannibal you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,247 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Hannibal-wide figureread your own land →
More in Missouri
Wider growing context
What grows across MissouriHannibal sits outside our named growing regions, so Missouri as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides