Aquilla, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Aquilla, 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 Aquilla 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 Aquilla — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Aquilla — the short answer
Aquilla, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 180 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 24
- Hill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Hill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Hill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 180 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 Hill County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Aquilla's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Aquilla's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Aquilla
Each reading below is measured for Aquilla itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAquilla runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Hill County, the closest normal to Aquilla) — 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
MeasuredAquilla 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 Aquilla is in
Aquilla sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Aquilla's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Hill County is mostly Texas Blackland Prairies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Aquilla
Every plant below cleared Aquilla's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Aquilla?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Aquilla
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Aquilla. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GERIK FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- CHAPMANS COUNTYLINE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- J M TIDWELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- JOHNNIES CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- M & N WHITNEY MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.1 mi
- KENT KWIK 613Underground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- THE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
- CAR CONNECTION INCBrownfields · 7.7 mi
- CEFCO 81Underground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- GERIK EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
- SLOVACEKS WESTUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
- PRECINCT 3 HEADQUARTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Aquilla'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 Aquilla.
Total Sites
58
within ~10 miles of Aquilla
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Aquilla
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Aquilla
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Aquilla, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Aquilla — Underground Storage Tanks (47 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (4 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Aquilla
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 Aquilla average
Your land is one point inside Aquilla
Everything above resolves to Aquilla as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 180 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hill 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 Aquilla Average
Aquilla Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Aquilla
- ●One soil character for all of Aquilla
- ●Frost dates read at Aquilla's scale: Feb 24 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Aquilla's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Aquilla
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Aquilla, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Aquilla averages can't show:
We read public map data around Aquilla — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Aquilla average
How we know this about Aquilla
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 Hill 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 Aquilla
When does frost risk typically end in Aquilla?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Aquilla typically lands around Feb 24, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Aquilla?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Aquilla typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Aquilla?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Aquilla sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 24 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 17 to Nov 14, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Aquilla?
The federal record around Aquilla is a meaningful one — 58 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (47), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 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 Aquilla?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Aquilla's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Aquilla'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 Aquilla’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Aquilla's own scale — the 180 acres it covers and 58 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Aquilla's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 58 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Aquilla, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Aquilla's boundary and the 180 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Aquilla sits in the Cross Timbers — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Aquilla has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hill County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Aquilla's 180 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hill County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hill 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 Hill County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Aquilla's 180 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Aquilla you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 180 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 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 Aquilla-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Growing region
Nearby growing guides