Allen, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Allen, 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 Allen 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 Allen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Allen — the short answer
Allen, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 276 days between hard freezes, across 17K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Collin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Collin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~276
- Collin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 17K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Collin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Allen's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Allen's 276-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Allen
Each reading below is measured for Allen itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAllen runs about 276 days between hard freezes (read from Collin County, the closest normal to Allen) — 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
MeasuredAllen sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Allen is in
Allen sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Allen's own centroid rather than borrowed from Collin County.
What Grows in Allen
Every plant below cleared Allen's own zone 8b and its 276-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Allen?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Allen
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Allen. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALLEN TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- JOYCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SARATOGA 727Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- RACETRAC 2339Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER 2918Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- 7-ELEVEN 35417Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LONE STAR FOOD STORE 47Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TWIN CREEKS MARKET PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CHEVRON 163757Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ALLEN ISD DISTRIBUTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JOYCES CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SAFEWAY 3579Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Allen'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 Allen.
Total Sites
975
within ~10 miles of Allen
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Allen
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Allen
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Allen, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Allen — Toxics Release Inventory (68 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (656 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 Allen
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 Allen average
Your land is one point inside Allen
Everything above resolves to Allen as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 17K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Collin County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. 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 city 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 Allen Average
Allen Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Allen
- ●One soil character for all of Allen
- ●Frost dates read at Allen's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Allen's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Allen
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Allen, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Allen averages can't show:
We read public map data around Allen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Allen average
How we know this about Allen
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Collin County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Allen
When does frost risk typically end in Allen?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Allen typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Allen?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Allen typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 276 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Allen?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Allen sees about 276 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 12, about 241 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Allen?
The federal record around Allen is a meaningful one — 975 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (656), 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Allen?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Allen's scale — its 8b band and its 276-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Allen'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 Allen’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Allen's own scale — the 16,897 acres it covers and 975 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Allen's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 975 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Allen, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Allen's boundary and the 16,897 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~276-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Allen's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Allen has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Collin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Allen's 16,897 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Collin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Collin County
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Collin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Allen's 16,897 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Allen you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 16,897 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Allen-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Growing region