Theodosia, Missouri, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Theodosia, 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 Theodosia 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 Theodosia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Theodosia — the short answer
Theodosia, Missouri: USDA zone 7a, about 229 days between hard freezes, across 877 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~229
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 877 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 7a is Theodosia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Theodosia's 229-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Theodosia
Each reading below is measured for Theodosia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTheodosia runs about 229 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
MeasuredTheodosia sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Theodosia is in
Theodosia sits in the Ozark Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Theodosia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ozark County.
What Grows in Theodosia
Every plant below cleared Theodosia's own zone 7a and its 229-day season. Each card opens that plant's Missouri profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Theodosia?
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 Feb 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Theodosia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Theodosia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SUB MARINE SHACKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BULLSEYE #22Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- T22N R16W 13CCB1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- HILL COUNTRY PACKAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- JUNE'S MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- THEODOSIA-C.O.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- JOHNSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- T21N R16W 06Nitrate · 5.9 mi
- well OZ-8Nitrate · 6.3 mi
- Holt ShaftsMining · 7.2 mi
- SOWARDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
- HERIFORD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Theodosia'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 Theodosia.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Theodosia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Theodosia
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Theodosia
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 Theodosia average
Your land is one point inside Theodosia
Everything above resolves to Theodosia as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 877 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 Theodosia Average
Theodosia Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Theodosia
- ●One soil character for all of Theodosia
- ●Frost dates read at Theodosia's scale: Mar 24 to Nov 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Theodosia's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Theodosia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Theodosia, Missouri — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Theodosia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Theodosia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Theodosia average
How we know this about Theodosia
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 Theodosia’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 Theodosia
When does frost risk typically end in Theodosia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Theodosia typically lands around Mar 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Theodosia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Theodosia typically arrives around Nov 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 25, so the watching starts about Oct 9 — about 229 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Theodosia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Theodosia sees about 229 frost-free days — roughly Mar 24 through Nov 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 14 to Oct 25, about 194 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Theodosia?
The federal record around Theodosia shows 24 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (14), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Theodosia?
From about Oct 9 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Theodosia's scale — its 7a band and its 229-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Theodosia'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 Theodosia’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Theodosia's own scale — its own ~229-day season between 28°F freezes, the 877 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Theodosia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Theodosia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 24 and Nov 8 and the ~229-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Theodosia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Theodosia's boundary and the 877 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~229-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Theodosia's own centroid, the Ozark HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Theodosia's 877 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ozark County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ozark 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 Ozark County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Theodosia's 877 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Theodosia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 877 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Theodosia-wide figureread your own land →
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