Latimer County, in Oklahoma, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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.
Latimer County lies within the Southeastern Oklahoma / Ouachita Mountains (Kiamichi Country) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Latimer County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Latimer 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 Latimer County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Latimer County — the short answer
Latimer County, Oklahoma: USDA zone 7b, about 237 days between hard freezes, across 462K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~237
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 462K 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 7b is Latimer County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Latimer County's 237-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Latimer County
Across a year, Latimer County accumulates about 4,819 growing degree days above 50°F, about 99 more than the middle Oklahoma county — ahead of 47 of Oklahoma’s 77 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.
Winter banks about 1,767 hours below 45°F, 152 fewer than the Oklahoma middle of 1,919. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Latimer County
Across Latimer County, the ground is predominantly Ultisols, where Carnasaw, Clebit, and Denman are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a stony loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.3–5.6, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Ultisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
14%
Hydric soils
3%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Latimer County
The USDA soil survey maps 71% of Latimer County as well drained — but another 28% drains differently: 26% moderately well drained, 2% very poorly drained.
Carnasaw is the most extensive named soil at 36% of mapped acres, then Clebit (8%) and Denman (7%).
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 Latimer County
Each reading below is measured for Latimer 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 Latimer County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Latimer County runs about pH 5.3–5.6, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredLatimer County runs about 237 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
MeasuredLatimer County 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 Latimer County is in
Latimer County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Arkansas Valley (51%) and Ouachita Mountains (49%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Latimer County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Latimer County's own USDA zone 7b and its own 237-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 Oklahoma profile.
Is it too late to plant in Latimer County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What gets applied to farmland in Latimer County
USGS estimates 7,435 lb of 2,4-d on Latimer County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Dicamba (2,456 lb) and Glyphosate (721 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 Latimer County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Latimer County — 53 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Toxics Release Inventory facility. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Latimer County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Latimer County
Closest first, across Latimer County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WEATHERFORD ENTERRABrownfields · 3.0 mi
- Choctaw Travel PlazaUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Kiamichi Electric Coop, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- Wilburton GulfUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- CHANDLER COMPRESSOR STATION/WILBURTON COMPRESSOR STATIONBrownfields · 3.5 mi
- Jim Walden's SinclairUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- A & A TANK TRUCK COBrownfields · 3.5 mi
- ANCHOR DRILLING FLUIDSBrownfields · 3.5 mi
- City Of WilburtonUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Wilburton StoreroomUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Wooldridge Oil Co.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- Wagner Apco Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Latimer 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 Latimer County.
Total Sites
53
across Latimer County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
across Latimer County
Severity Distribution
across Latimer County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Latimer County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 40 sites across Latimer County. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Latimer 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 Latimer County average
Your land is one point inside Latimer County
Everything above resolves to Latimer County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 462K 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 Latimer County Average
Latimer County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Latimer County
- ●One soil character for all of Latimer County
- ●Frost dates read at Latimer County's scale: Mar 20 to Nov 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Latimer County's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Latimer County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Latimer County, Oklahoma — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Latimer County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Latimer County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Latimer County average
How we know this about Latimer 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 Latimer County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Latimer County
When does frost risk typically end in Latimer County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Latimer County typically lands around Mar 20, 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 10.
How long is the growing season in Latimer County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Latimer County sees about 237 frost-free days — roughly Mar 20 through Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 10 to Oct 29, about 202 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Latimer County?
The federal record around Latimer County shows 53 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (40), the nearest Brownfields record about 3.0 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.
Everything above is measured at Latimer County's scale — its 7b band and its 237-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Latimer 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 Oklahoma's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Latimer County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Latimer County's own scale — its own ~237-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 53 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Latimer County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Latimer County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~237-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Latimer CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 53 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 3.0 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Latimer County's boundary and the 462,152 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~237-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Latimer County spans, Arkansas Valley the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Latimer County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Oklahoma grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oklahoma
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Latimer County — the ~237 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 Latimer County's 462,152 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 53 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 Latimer Countyread your own land →