Soper, Oklahoma, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Soper, 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 Soper 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 Soper — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Soper — the short answer
Soper, Oklahoma: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 161 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 161 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 8a is Soper's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Soper's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Soper
Each reading below is measured for Soper itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSoper runs about 262 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
MeasuredSoper sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Soper is in
Soper sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Soper's own centroid rather than borrowed from Choctaw County.
What Grows in Soper
Every plant below cleared Soper's own zone 8a and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oklahoma profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Soper?
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 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 20 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Soper
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Soper. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Burrel G. BoykinUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- T-2 Store & CaféUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Former Hilltop Kerr McGeeUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Odot Right Of Way, Hugo YUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- Odot-Dist G HeadquartersUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- Nelson Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
- US ARMY COE HUGO PROJECT OFFICEBrownfields · 8.5 mi
- Goodland SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- Barker FarmsUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- TRINITYRAIL MAINTENANCE SERVICES INC / TRINITYRAIL MAINTENANCE SERVICES HUGOBrownfields · 9.0 mi
- Hugo Operating CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.1 mi
- CHOCTAW MFG AND DEV CORP / CHOCTAW METAL AND GOODS MFG FACLTYBrownfields · 9.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Soper'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 Soper.
Total Sites
21
within ~10 miles of Soper
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Soper
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Soper
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Soper
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 Soper average
Your land is one point inside Soper
Everything above resolves to Soper as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 161 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 Soper Average
Soper Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Soper
- ●One soil character for all of Soper
- ●Frost dates read at Soper's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Soper's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Soper
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Soper, Oklahoma — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Soper averages can't show:
We read public map data around Soper — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Soper average
How we know this about Soper
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 Soper’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 Soper
When does frost risk typically end in Soper?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Soper typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Soper?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Soper typically arrives around Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 6, so the watching starts about Oct 21 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Soper?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Soper sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 6, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Soper?
The federal record around Soper is light — 21 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (16), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Soper?
From about Oct 21 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Soper's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Soper'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 Soper’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Soper's own scale — its own ~262-day season between 28°F freezes, the 161 acres it covers and 21 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Soper's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Soper's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 3 and Nov 20 and the ~262-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 21 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Soper, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Soper's boundary and the 161 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Soper's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Soper's 161 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Choctaw County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Choctaw County
- The growing challenges every Oklahoma grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oklahoma
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Choctaw County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Soper's 161 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Soper you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 161 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Soper-wide figureread your own land →