Henderson County, in Tennessee, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Henderson County lies within the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Henderson County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Henderson 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 Henderson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Henderson County — the short answer
Henderson County, Tennessee: USDA zone 7b, about 233 days between hard freezes, across 333K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~233
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 333K 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 Henderson County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Henderson County's 233-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Henderson County
Across a year, Henderson County accumulates about 4,349 growing degree days above 50°F, about 236 more than the middle Tennessee county — ahead of 78 of Tennessee’s 95 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 1,969 hours below 45°F, 90 fewer than the Tennessee middle of 2,059. 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 Henderson County
Across Henderson County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Lexington, Smithdale, and Bibb are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.0–5.3, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
19%
Hydric soils
15%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Henderson County
The USDA soil survey maps 58% of Henderson County as well drained — but another 41% drains differently: 15% somewhat poorly drained, 15% moderately well drained.
Lexington is the most extensive named soil at 23% of mapped acres, then Smithdale (15%) and Bibb (10%).
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 Henderson County
Each reading below is measured for Henderson 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 Henderson County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — 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 Henderson County runs about pH 5.0–5.3, 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
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 15% of Henderson County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredHenderson County runs about 233 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
The kind of country Henderson County is in
Henderson County sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Henderson County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Henderson County's own USDA zone 7b and its own 233-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 Tennessee profile.
Is it too late to plant in Henderson County?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 22 (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. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What gets applied to farmland in Henderson County
USGS estimates 61,505 lb of Glyphosate on Henderson County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (15,215 lb) and Dicamba (13,357 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 Henderson County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Henderson County — 196 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Henderson County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Henderson County
Closest first, across Henderson County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Lexington Electric CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- BROWN SHOE COToxics Release Inventory · 1300 ft
- Minor Food Mart no. 3Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- HE:J-006Nitrate · 1900 ft
- Little General no. 35Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CROSS ENTERPRISES (CROSS DRY CLEANERS)Brownfields · 2100 ft
- Major MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Fast Stop No. 8Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Jerry' Oil # 12Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Parkers Sport ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Hayes Grocery*Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Franklin - Wilkins AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Henderson 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 Henderson County.
Total Sites
196
across Henderson County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Henderson County
Severity Distribution
across Henderson County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Henderson County, two things run higher than the national average across Henderson County — Toxics Release Inventory (14 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (129 sites). 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Henderson 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 Henderson County average
Your land is one point inside Henderson County
Everything above resolves to Henderson County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 333K 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 Henderson County Average
Henderson County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Henderson County
- ●One soil character for all of Henderson County
- ●Frost dates read at Henderson County's scale: Mar 22 to Nov 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Henderson County's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Henderson County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Henderson County, Tennessee — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Henderson County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Henderson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Henderson County average
How we know this about Henderson 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 Henderson County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Henderson County
When does frost risk typically end in Henderson County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Henderson County typically lands around Mar 22, 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 12.
How long is the growing season in Henderson County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Henderson County sees about 233 frost-free days — roughly Mar 22 through Nov 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 12 to Oct 27, about 198 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Henderson County?
The federal record around Henderson County is a meaningful one — 196 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (129), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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.
Everything above is measured at Henderson County's scale — its 7b band and its 233-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Henderson 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 Tennessee's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Henderson County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Henderson County's own scale — its own ~233-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 196 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Henderson County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Henderson County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~233-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Henderson CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 196 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Henderson County's boundary and the 332,805 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~233-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Henderson County sitting wholly inside the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Henderson County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Tennessee grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Tennessee
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Henderson County — the ~233 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 Henderson County's 332,805 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 196 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 Henderson Countyread your own land →