Conditional — Some Areas
cardamom (zones 10-13) reaches only part of Texas (6b-10b): zone 10 are in range, so where you are in the state decides it.
Cardamom in Texas — the short answer
Cardamom in Texas: hardy in zones 10–13, part sun, against a state median of ~274 frost-free days.
- Plant zones
- 10-13
- Manual horticultural correction (source not retained); NC State Extension and Missouri Botanical Garden, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation
- Texas zones
- 6b-10b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Frost window
- Feb 10 - Mar 12 – Nov 18 - Dec 4
- NOAA RCC ACIS 1991-2020, 28°F
- Shortest county season
- 197 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze
- Days to maturity
- 365 days
- Growable Ground Plant Database
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS and university Extension sources — per-field provenance varies and is published with the dataset.
Your yard isn't the whole zone.
Texas spans zones 6b-10b, but your yard has its own microclimate — slope, trees, and low spots shift frost and sun across a single parcel. Enter your address and we'll score cardamom against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Texas is not one climate
A single Texas answer averages 254 counties whose growing seasons are 146 days apart — from 197 frost-free days in Dallam County to 343 in Kenedy County. Which end of that your land sits nearer changes what cardamom can finish before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 254 counties runs 252–297 days, with a median of 274 days — a 146-day span end to end.
Measured across 254 Texas counties. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze. Quartiles are order statistics — every figure shown is a value a real county recorded, not an interpolation. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where in Texas Fits Best
Cardamom is rated for zones 10–13 — a cold floor USDA puts at 30 to 40°F. Against Texas’s 254 counties that band holds in 5 of them, and the line runs at Cameron County (zone 10a), the coldest county still inside it.
Below the zone 10 floor
249 counties
- Dallam County · zone 6b
- Lipscomb County · zone 6b
- Armstrong County · zone 7a
3 of 249 shown
Winter cold is the limit here — the same plant works in a container that comes under cover.
County hardiness zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) 2023, per county. A zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme minimum temperature, so the floor above is the band the plant's rating denotes, not a single measured kill point. Slope, shelter and cold-air drainage routinely move a site half a zone either way from its county figure — which is the part only your address resolves.
Even within Texas's zones 6b-10b, county microclimates differ enough to change what thrives. These counties carry the closest zone match for cardamom (USDA PHZM 2023):
Zone Comparison
Cardamom Needs
- USDA Zones: 10-13
- Frost-Free Days: 240+
- Sun: Part Sun
- Mature size: 12 ft tall
- Drought tolerance: Low
Texas Has
- USDA Zones: 6b-10b
- Last Hard Freeze (28°F): Feb 10 - Mar 12
- First Hard Freeze (28°F): Nov 18 - Dec 4
- Annual Rainfall: 8-56 inches
- Common Soils: Black clay (Blackland Prairie), Sandy loam, Caliche
Plant Zone Range (zones 10-13)
Preferred Soil pH
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS, and university Extension sources — per-field provenance varies and is published with the dataset. State data: USDA ARS PHZM 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NRCS SSURGO.
When to Plant Cardamom in Texas
The frost window
Across Texas, the last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Feb 10 and Mar 12, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Nov 18 and Dec 4 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Counting from the latest last freeze to the earliest first freeze, that's a 251-day window you can count on — up to 297 days on a mild site in a kind year. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost, so tender transplants usually wait another 2-3 weeks.
When to start the seed
Those dates are when cardamom goes out, not when it starts. It is sown under cover about 12 weeks ahead, so counting back from Texas's late-side last freeze of Mar 12 is what fixes your sowing date — and a yard that clears frost earlier than the state's late date starts earlier still.
Grown as an annual here
Cardamom is a true perennial in its home range — it overwinters from USDA zone 10 and warmer (NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder) — but Texas runs as cold as zone 6, so it is killed back each winter and replanted each spring. Treat it on the season schedule above, not as a permanent planting: there is no fall establishment window for it here.
Frost window: NOAA Climate Normals 1991-2020. Plant timing fields: Growable Ground Plant Database — frost-free days from FAO ECOCROP, days to harvest from university Extension production guides, and growing-degree-day and chill-hour minimums that are compilation estimates rather than published figures. Your site's own frost dates can run earlier or later than the state range — a parcel report pins them down.
Growing Season Fit
The zone check says cardamom survives winter in part of Texas, not across all of it. Whether the season is long enough — and warm enough — is a different question.
Frost-free days
Cardamom wants 240+ frost-free days; a typical Texas site sees ~274 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). That leaves a workable window — start indoors to bank time.
Growing degree days
Cardamom needs ~5000 GDD (base 50°F) to ripen. The state median runs ~5834 GDD (from PRISM 1991-2020 climate normals), so Texas sits right at the threshold — pay attention to siting and microclimate.
GDD and chill-hour figures are computed from PRISM 1991-2020 monthly climate normals; frost-free days from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. Each is the state median across its counties (P25/P75 span the within-state spread). Hardiness-zone range is USDA PHZM 2023.
Soil + Drainage Fit
Cardamom likes near-neutral soil (pH 4.8-7). That's the common-ground band across Texas's black clay (blackland prairie) and sandy loam — a soil test confirms it for your site. It will grow across that whole span, but it does best between pH 5.5 and 6 — worth knowing before you decide whether a Texas soil test result is a problem or just a number. Drainage matters: this plant wants well (dry spells). If your Texas site is heavier clay or sits in a low spot, raised beds or amendment with compost solve it.
Plant pH requirements: FAO ECOCROP and USDA PLANTS, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. Drainage: FAO ECOCROP, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. Texas soil profile from USDA NRCS SSURGO. Site-specific verification: a 30-minute soil test from your local Extension lab.
Before you plant cardamom for food
Anything you grow to eat takes up what is in the ground it grows in, so what is on record near you is worth knowing before cardamom goes in. What follows is Texas’s documented federal record at state scale — a screening signal, not a soil test, and not a statement about any one lot.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Texas — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Texas — 93,167 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 480 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Texas carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources Checked
across Texas
Severity Distribution
across Texas
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Texas, two things run higher than the national average across Texas — PFAS (1,103 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (61,246 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
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.
What Else to Consider for Cardamom in Texas
Zone compatibility tells you about winter cold survival — but Texas growers also need to think about:
Extreme heat (100F+ days) stresses many crops from June through September
Rainfall varies dramatically — 8 inches in west TX to 56 inches in east TX
Heavy black clay (Blackland Prairie) is difficult to work and drains poorly
Flash drought conditions can develop rapidly even in wet years
What to actually do about these — and the constraints that apply to every Texas grower, not just cardamom — is covered on the Texas growing guide.
Timing shifts within Texas
Cardamom needs about 240 days of frost-free season to complete its cycle. 216 of Texas’s 254 counties give it that outright. The tightest that does is Gaines County at 240 frost-free days — 0 to spare. Below that line you are transplanting or extending the season, not direct-sowing.
Across Texas’s 254 counties the frost-free season runs from 197 days in Dallam County to 343 days in Kenedy County — a spread of 146 days, which is why a single statewide planting date misleads. The median Texas county sees 274 frost-free days, leaving cardamom about 34 days of slack on a typical parcel — room for a second sowing where the season runs long.
County last-freeze dates and frost-free day counts: NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991-2020), county 28°F freeze (earlier than the folk 32°F "last frost"). Cardamom's 240-day requirement: USDA PLANTS / Growable Ground plant database (minimum frost-free days). A parcel report resolves your address's own frost dates.
Pollinator + Wildlife Value
Cardamom draws native bees (low value, Growable Ground Plant Database). Planting it near vegetable beds can lift fruit set on neighboring crops. Outdoors, cardamom can only work that bloom inside Texas's frost window — roughly 274 days, opening after the last 28°F freeze (Feb 10 - Mar 12) and closing at the first (Nov 18 - Dec 4), per NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020.
Texas Cooperative Extension
For Texas-specific cultivar recommendations, planting calendars, and pest pressure for cardamom, the canonical source is Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Their fact sheets carry the local trial data we can't generalize across 50 states.
Common Questions About Growing Cardamom in Texas
When can I plant Cardamom in Texas?
Texas's last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Feb 10 and Mar 12, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Nov 18 and Dec 4 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Cardamom overwinters only from USDA zone 10 and warmer, and Texas runs as cold as zone 6, so it is grown as an annual here — plant it after the last hard freeze, two to three weeks later for tender stock, and expect to replant next spring rather than establishing it for the long term.
What hardiness zone is Cardamom grown in across Texas?
Texas spans USDA hardiness zones 6b-10b (USDA ARS PHZM 2023). Cardamom carries a range of zones 10-13, so the overlap zones are where outdoor growing is most reliable.
How many frost-free days does a typical Texas site have?
A typical Texas site sees ~274 frost-free days per year (derived from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Cardamom needs 240+ frost-free days, so check whether your local microclimate runs above or below the state average before settling on a planting date.
How should I amend the soil for Cardamom in Texas?
Cardamom prefers pH 4.8-7 and well (dry spells) drainage (FAO ECOCROP). That sits in the common-ground band across Texas soils — a 30-minute soil test from a local Extension lab confirms it for your specific site.
Will Cardamom actually grow on my specific land in Texas?
State-level zone + climate data is a sketch. A Growable Ground parcel report scores cardamom against your address's exact soil pH, drainage, sun, and frost-date data drawn from USDA SSURGO, NOAA, and PRISM — not state averages.
Check your specific parcel in Texas
State-level data is a sketch. Your Growable Ground report scores cardamom against your parcel's exact soil, sun, drainage, and frost data — not zone averages.
Three things about your lot that Texas cardamom averages can't show:
We read public map data around Texas — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Texas cardamom average
Explore More
Growing guides for cardamom
Explore Texas county by county
Texas carries 254 counties with their own USDA zone — a sample of the growing pages for cardamom there:
Where else cardamom grows
Cardamom's zone band crosses state lines — these are the states closest to Texas in winter climate where it also has a page, plus the far ends of its range. Each one re-answers the question with that state's own record.
More to grow in Texas
Texas has a growing page for 1,041 plants — a rotating sample of the rest of the shelf.
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