Mississippi Nature Guide: March 2026
Data updated: August 2026Sources & method · Corrections
March explodes into a full Mississippi spring — azaleas and dogwoods set the hills and gardens ablaze, the first Neotropical migrants arrive, and the woods fill with spring ephemerals. It is the most spectacular flowering month of the year across most of the state.
Week by week in March
February 26 – March 4
- Northern Parula, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers return to the bottomlands as spring migration opens.
- Red maples finish flowering and the first flowering dogwood and redbud buds swell across the hills.
- Bloodroot, trilliums, and the first violets and phlox open in the rich hill-country forests.
March 5–11
- Native flowering dogwood whitens the understory and the first azaleas blaze in coastal and old-town gardens.
- Ruby-throated Hummingbirds return to the gardens and the first Swallow-tailed Kites drift back to the southern river swamps.
- On the coast and in central Mississippi, harden off and transplant tomatoes and peppers as the spring frost passes.
March 12–18
- Azaleas and redbud reach their height across the gardens and woodland edges — the peak of the Mississippi spring color.
- The first spring monarchs reach Mississippi from Mexico, the females seeking the newly sprouting milkweed to lay their eggs.
- The fringe tree (grancy graybeard) drapes the woods in feathery white, and the longleaf pine pushes its silvery new candles.
March 19–25
- Mississippi Kites return to the Delta and the towns, and Prothonotary Warblers glow gold in the cypress swamps.
- The first Louisiana iris opens in the southern swamps and the white spider lily raises its blooms in the wet ditches.
- The earliest strawberries from southern and coastal farms appear, the first sweet fruit of the year.
March 26 – April 1
- The first Gulf-crossing warblers and tanagers make landfall along the coast as the spring migration accelerates.
- Direct-sow beans, squash, cucumbers, corn, and melons as the soil warms across the southern half of the state.
- The tulip tree opens its orange-and-green blooms high in the bottomlands and the live oaks flush new growth on the coast.
Birds This Month
March turns the page from winter to spring migration across Mississippi. The last wintering ducks and geese drain northward out of the Delta, and the first northbound landbirds pour in: Purple Martins fill the gourds, Northern Parula, Yellow-throated, Pine, and Black-and-white Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, White-eyed Vireos, and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds return to the bottomlands and gardens. Chimney Swifts and the first swallows reappear over the towns and rivers.
Resident birds are in full breeding song and on nests — Northern Mockingbirds (the state bird), Carolina Wrens, Eastern Bluebirds, Brown Thrashers, and Northern Cardinals sing all day, and woodpeckers drum. In the longleaf pine of the south, the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Bachman's Sparrow grow vocal, and on the coast the Mississippi Sandhill Crane tends its wet-savanna nests near Gautier. The barrier islands and beaches of the Gulf Islands National Seashore host returning Wilson's Plovers, terns, and Black Skimmers, while the first Swallow-tailed Kites, one of the South's most elegant raptors, drift back to the southern river swamps late in the month.
What's Blooming
March is the most spectacular wildflower month in Mississippi, when the woods and gardens erupt. The spring ephemerals carpet the rich hill-country and bottomland forests — white trout lily, spring beauty, bloodroot, rue and wood anemone, mayapple, Solomon's seal, wild ginger, trilliums, and the first violets, phlox, and fire pink. In the swamps and wet ditches, the white spider lily raises its spidery flowers, and along the southern roadsides the yellow Carolina jessamine drapes the fences.
But the signature show is the flowering trees and shrubs. Native flowering dogwood whitens the understory across the hills, the native and cultivated azaleas blaze in every color through the gardens and the great azalea trails of the coast and the old towns, and redbud paints the woodland edges magenta. Eastern wisteria, crossvine, coral honeysuckle, and the first native iris add to the riot. The pollinator garden and the wild woods alike are at their flowering height, and the first Louisiana iris opens in the southern swamps by month's end.
Garden This Month
March is the busiest planting month of the Mississippi garden year, the moment the warm-season garden begins across the southern half of the state while the cool-season crops still surge. The last spring frost falls in mid-March on the coast, late March in central Mississippi, and not until mid-April in the northern hills, so timing follows the map. Where frost has passed, harden off and transplant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, and direct-sow beans, squash, cucumbers, corn, southern peas, and melons as the soil warms.
Keep the cool-season garden producing — harvest lettuce, spinach, peas, broccoli, and greens before the heat turns them bitter — and make successive sowings. Set out sweet potato slips in the warmer zones late in the month, plant strawberries and asparagus, and finish planting fruit trees and berries. Feed and mulch the fruit trees and azaleas, watch for the first flush of weeds and aphids, and keep row cover handy in the north for the late frosts that can still nip tender transplants. The garden is exploding with growth, and the work is constant and rewarding.
Zone 7b (northeastern hills & the north): still frost-prone into mid-April. Keep planting cool-season crops, set out hardened cabbage and broccoli, and wait on tomatoes and peppers behind walls of water or row cover until the danger of frost passes.
Zone 8a (central Mississippi & the Delta): the heart of spring planting. Finish cool-season crops, harden off and set out tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant after the mid-month frost date, and direct-sow beans, squash, cucumbers, corn, and melons once the soil warms.
Zone 9a (Gulf coast): the frost is past and the warm-season garden goes in. Plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, squash, cucumbers, okra, and southern peas, and set out sweet potato slips toward month's end.
What's at the Farmers Market
March markets fill with the first true spring produce as Mississippi's growing season accelerates. The cool-season crops crowd the stands — tender lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale, mustard, collards, green onions, radishes, and the first English peas, broccoli, and cabbage. The earliest strawberries from the southern and coastal farms begin to appear by late March, the first sweet fruit of the year. Gulf oysters close out their cool-season run as the waters warm.
Plant and nursery vendors are everywhere now, offering vegetable transplants, herbs, fruit trees, and bedding plants for the home garden. Look too for local honey, eggs, and the year's value-added staples. Choose strawberries fully red and fragrant — they will not sweeten further off the plant — and refrigerate them unwashed and dry, using within a couple of days. Pick leafy greens with crisp, unwilted leaves and store them loosely bagged in the crisper, and buy green onions and radishes with fresh, firm tops. The markets are waking with the bright, tender flavors of early spring.
Night Sky This Month
March brings the changing of the seasonal sky over Mississippi, with the spring equinox near month's end balancing day and night. From the state's dark sites — the open Delta, the forests around Noxubee NWR and the De Soto National Forest, Tishomingo State Park, and the Gulf Islands National Seashore beaches — the winter and spring stars share the sky. Local astronomy clubs hold spring star parties as the milder nights return.
In the early evening, the Winter Hexagon and Orion still hang in the west, but the spring constellations now rule the rising eastern sky: Leo the lion climbs with bright Regulus, the Big Dipper swings high overhead, and its handle arcs down to orange Arcturus in Boötes rising in the east. This is galaxy season — the realm of Leo and Virgo overhead holds countless faint galaxies for a telescope under dark Mississippi skies. There is no major meteor shower this month. The printable Mississippi night-sky guide lists this year's planet positions and the best dark-sky sites for the spring nights.
Butterflies & Pollinators
March brings Mississippi's butterfly year to life across the state. The spring brood emerges in force — eastern tiger and zebra swallowtails patrol the bottomlands and gardens, spicebush and black swallowtails appear, and the delicate falcate orangetip dances along rich woodland trails where its mustard hosts grow. Spring azures, gray hairstreaks, American and painted ladies, red admirals, and question marks work the early blooms, and the first fresh gulf fritillaries show in the south.
The great event is the return of the monarch. The first spring monarchs reach Mississippi from Mexico in March, the females seeking out the newly sprouting milkweed to lay the eggs of the next generation that will carry the migration north — planting native milkweed now feeds them directly. Cloudless sulphurs and sleepy oranges drift through, and along the Gulf coast the warm air keeps a steady parade on the wing. Watch the azaleas, redbud, dogwood, and the blooming clover and henbit for nectaring butterflies, and provide a damp patch of mud where the swallowtails gather to puddle.
What to plant for them is in the Mississippi native plants guide
Trees This Month
March is the great leaf-out and flowering month of the Mississippi forest, the woods shifting from gray to a thousand shades of new green. The signature show is the understory: native flowering dogwood, the iconic Southern spring tree, opens its white four-bracted blooms across the hills, and the redbud lights the woodland edges magenta. The red maples finish flowering and unfurl their red-tinged leaves, the oaks and hickories hang their dangling catkins, and the river birch, sweetgum, sycamore, and tulip tree burst their buds.
The fringe tree (grancy graybeard) drapes the woods in feathery white panicles, the black cherry and wild plum whiten the fence rows, and the native buckeye opens early. Along the Gulf coast the great live oaks drop their old leaves and flush new growth with dangling catkins all at once. In the southern savannas the longleaf pine pushes its silvery candles of new growth, and yellow pollen drifts from the pines. The first Southern magnolia buds fatten toward their May bloom. The forest is transformed, full and green by month's end.
The Mississippi native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across Mississippi, a typical March day averages a high near 68°F and a low near 45°F, with about 5.5 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Highs climbing past 68 and lows near 45 make for a comfortable, breezy month with regular soaking rains.
| Average high | 68°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 45°F |
| Precipitation | 5.5 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 7:10 CT |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 19:06 CT |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (CT).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when Mississippi's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
Go deeper with the Mississippi guides
The complete Mississippi birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: March in Missouri · March in Montana · March in Nebraska