The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) spans USDA hardiness zones 7b-8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
West Tennessee is the state's warmest, flattest, longest-season country — the entire Grand Division west of the Tennessee River. Its southwest corner around Memphis is Tennessee's only broad USDA 8a band (Shelby 266, Tipton 262, Lauderdale 257, Haywood 248, Fayette 245 frost-free days), while the upland plain runs a long 7b of 228–241 days, materially longer than Middle Tennessee's Nashville Basin. The growing medium is different too: deep windblown loess and sandy Coastal Plain soils (EPA Mississippi Valley Loess Plains and Southeastern Plains ecoregions), not the limestone basin or the acidic sandstone plateau that define the rest of the state. Reliable performers under these conditions include tomato, iris, pawpaw, and muscadine grape; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) spans Tennessee.
Your yard isn't all of the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains).
The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) spans USDA zones 7b-8a, but your parcel sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) — the short answer
The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains): USDA zones 7b-8a, 228–266 frost-free days depending where in it you stand, in Tennessee.
- USDA zones
- 7b-8a
- USDA PHZM 2023, aggregated over the footprint
- Shortest season here
- 228 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020 — Decatur County
- Counties
- 20
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Region type
- County cluster
- Growable Ground growing-region registry
Region boundary: Growable Ground growing-region registry — curated county clusters, EPA Level III ecoregions, and town clusters drawn finer than any county. The season figure is this region's own record, measured across its 20 member counties, not a state or national average.
Hardiness Zone Range
The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) is not one growing season
One answer for the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) averages 20 counties whose growing seasons are 38 days apart — from 228 frost-free days in Decatur County to 266 in Shelby County. That is the same region, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your land sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 20 counties runs 231–246 days, with a median of 235 days — a 38-day span end to end.
Measured across 20 member counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. A member with no own record is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the region. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where the line runs inside the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
The middle half of the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) runs 231–246 frost-free days, and 10 of its 20 counties sit outside that — 5 on the short side, 5 on the long. A regional planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 231 frost-free days
5 counties
- Decatur County · 228 days
- Carroll County · 230 days
- Gibson County · 230 days
3 of 5 shown
The end of the region that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
231–246 frost-free days
10 counties
0 of 10 shown
The middle half of the region, and the part a single regional season describes well.
Over 246 frost-free days
5 counties
- Shelby County · 266 days
- Tipton County · 262 days
- Lauderdale County · 257 days
3 of 5 shown
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each county is placed by its OWN 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a site within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
What Grows in the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
All 1 of the plants below that publish a season requirement clear even Decatur County’s 228 frost-free days — so on season alone, this grid works at both ends of the region. The 38-day spread still decides how far past this list you can push, and how early you can start.
Plants matched to the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)'s USDA zones 7b-8a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has across the region — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Native Plants of the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in this region’s state, kept only where the published hardiness range meets the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)’s USDA zones 7b-8a — closest range match first. Presence is recorded by state, so a plant can be documented across the state and still be scarce in your corner of the region.
The ground across the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
The USDA soil survey maps this ground county by county. These are those records weighted by land area across 20 member counties — this region’s own profile, not a state figure.
The ground is predominantly Alfisols, at 47% of mapped acres, followed by Ultisols (21%), Entisols (20%) and Inceptisols (11%). Six soil orders appear somewhere inside the footprint, which is the honest reason a regional soil answer only goes so far. The most extensive named soils are Smithdale, Loring, and Memphis.
39% of those acres are well drained, and another 31% moderately well drained, 13% somewhat poorly drained. Topsoil pH runs 4.8–6.7 between the lowest and the highest county on record. 36% of the footprint is classed prime farmland.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Topsoil pH
4.8–6.7
Hydric soils
15%
Soil changes across a driveway, so which of these your own ground sits on is a parcel question rather than a regional one. Dyer County holds the most wetland ground here, at 39% — soil types explained.
USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access
What this means for growing in the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
The soil survey reads this ground county by county, and the readings above are those records summed across the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains). Here is what they mean for a garden here — and the move an experienced grower makes about each one.
Drainage
From county records39% of the mapped acres across the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) are well drained — ground that drains quickly. That is area-weighted across all 20 of its mapped counties.
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
From county recordsTopsoil across the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) runs pH 4.8–6.7 — acidic in 18 of its 20 counties.
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
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) — and how to grow with it.
Across the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)'s 20 counties the federal record holds 7,717 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks (5,107), Brownfields (1,096) and Nitrate (806). The heaviest single county is Shelby County, with 3,578.
That is a regional count, not a reading of any one lot — proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis. Open the map outlined to the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) to see which records sit where you actually grow.
Sources Checked
Summed across the 20 counties in the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains), two things run higher than the national average across the 20 counties in the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) — Superfund (121 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (5,107 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Your land is one point inside the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
Everything above resolves to the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) as a whole — a footprint whose own counties record seasons 38 days apart, and hardiness across zones 7b-8a. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 region 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 regional average.
Your Lot vs the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) Average
West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b-8a, averaged across West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
- ●One soil character for all of West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)'s 7b-8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, contamination, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) averages can't show:
We read public map data around The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) average
How we know this about the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
The boundary: a cluster of neighboring counties. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one, and every figure on this page was measured over the counties inside it rather than borrowed from the state around it.
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, aggregated across the footprint; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each member’s own record; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above; the soil from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, read at each member county’s own record and weighted to this footprint by land area. Where a member carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Common questions about the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
What hardiness zone is the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)?
The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) spans USDA hardiness zones 7b-8a, aggregated from the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 across the region's counties. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 data.
How long is the growing season in the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)'s counties mostly run 231 to 246 frost-free days, median 235 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991–2020, over 20 member counties). That 15-day spread is the honest read — no single season describes 20 counties, and each county guide below carries its own.
When does frost risk end in the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)?
Across the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains), the middle half of member counties see their last 28°F hard freeze between Mar 13 and Mar 23 (median Mar 21), and their first fall freeze between Nov 9 and Nov 15. Those are hard freezes, not the last light frost: tender transplants wait for about Apr 11, and elevation decides which end of a 10-day spread you garden in.
What grows well in the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)?
The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)'s conditions suit plants such as Tomato, Iris, Pawpaw, Muscadine Grape, Tulip Poplar. What actually thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage — we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
How is the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) defined?
The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) is defined here as a curated cluster of 20 neighboring counties that share a growing character. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one — every county in it is named on this page.
Which states does the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) cover?
The West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains) spans Tennessee. Each state's full growing guide is linked on this page.
What other growing regions cover the same states?
Appalachia, Mississippi Delta, Blue Ridge, Cumberland Plateau, and Nashville Basin share at least one state with the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains). Growing regions overlap and interlock — a single address can sit inside more than one, which is why the precise read is always the parcel, not the region.
What this page reads at the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)'s own scale — the zone 7b-8a band across its footprint, a median 235-day season across its 20 counties and 7,717 documented federal contamination records across its 20 counties, 3,578 of them in Shelby County alone; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- The USDA hardiness band 7b-8a aggregated across all 20 counties in the footprintUSDA PHZM 2023
- The boundary itself — the 20 counties this region is curated fromGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The growing character that makes this region distinct from the states it crossesGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The 28°F season across the footprint — the middle half of its 20 counties run 231 to 246 frost-free days, median 235NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- The federal contamination record over the whole footprint — 7,717 documented federal contamination records across its 20 counties, 3,578 of them in Shelby County aloneEPA, USGS and USDA federal site records
- The soil order mix across the footprint — 47% Alfisols, topsoil pH 4.8–6.7, area-weighted across its 20 mapped countiesUSDA NRCS SSURGO
Inherited from a wider read
- The candidate plant list — its state's curated sets, merged and filtered to zones 7b-8afrom Tennessee
What this page can’t tell you
- Which end of the 15-day range your ground sits at — 231 days at one extreme, 246 at the other, decided mostly by elevationfrost dates explained →
- Which of those soils your own ground sits on — the survey maps them county-wide, and they change across a drivewaysoil types explained →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on one specific lotwhy one lot differs from the next →
Explore the West Tennessee (Gulf Coastal Plain / Loess Plains)
State growing guides
Counties in this region
Other growing regions across Tennessee
The vast eastern mountain region of steep hollows, thin acidic soils, and short upland seasons — apples, brambles, ramps, and forest crops on hard-won ground. (Union of the core Appalachian ecoregions.)
The flat, deep, dark alluvial bottomland of the lower Mississippi River — extraordinarily fertile cotton, soybean, rice, and sweet-potato ground.
The high, cool, forested spine of the southern Appalachians — layered ridges, acidic mountain loams, and a short upland season suited to apples and cold-hardy crops.
The Cumberland Plateau isn't the broad Appalachian average — it's a sandstone tableland riding roughly 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the valleys on either side, and that elevation sets the growing rules here. Across these 14 Kentucky and Tennessee plateau counties (EPA's Southwestern Appalachians ecoregion, the scientific line for the plateau), the hardiness band tightens to 7a-7b and the frost-free season runs close to 210 days — median last frost in early April, first frost in early November, later to warm in spring and quicker to cool in fall than the limestone valleys below. The plateau's other signature is underfoot: acidic, sandy soils weathered from Pennsylvanian sandstone, lean on natural fertility but a genuine fit for blueberries, blackberries, and other acid-loving crops that struggle in the sweet limestone soils of the Bluegrass to the west. Plan for the cooler nights, feed the lean soil, and grow toward what the tableland does well.
A warm limestone lowland ringed by the higher Highland Rim, the Nashville Basin — the Central Basin of Middle Tennessee — grows on thin, phosphate-rich soils over Ordovician limestone: the pasture-and-hay ground that made Shelbyville and Lewisburg the home of the Tennessee Walking Horse. The basin floor holds a steady USDA zone 7b across Davidson, Rutherford, Williamson and the counties around Murfreesboro, with roughly 213-236 frost-free days — a warmer, more southerly growing band than Kentucky's Bluegrass to the north and a longer, milder season than the Cumberland Plateau ridges to the east.