Ballinger, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ballinger, 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 Ballinger 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 Ballinger — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ballinger — the short answer
Ballinger, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- Runnels County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Runnels County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Runnels County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Runnels County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Ballinger's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ballinger's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ballinger
Each reading below is measured for Ballinger itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBallinger runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Runnels County, the closest normal to Ballinger) — 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
MeasuredBallinger 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 Ballinger is in
Ballinger sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ballinger's own centroid rather than borrowed from Runnels County.
What Grows in Ballinger
Every plant below cleared Ballinger's own zone 8b and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ballinger?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — 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 Ballinger
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ballinger. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BALLINGER CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CITY OF BALLINGERPFAS · 1600 ft
- N AUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- 1109 HUTCHINSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- PIC-N-PACUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- BAGWELL FUEL STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- FAUBION IMPLEMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- ALLSUPS 235Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- PIONEER OILCO 101Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- AFCO NO 10112Brownfields · 1900 ft
- BALLINGER TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- BILL RAGSDALE TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ballinger'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 Ballinger.
Total Sites
79
within ~10 miles of Ballinger
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ballinger
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ballinger
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ballinger, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 67 sites within ~10 miles of Ballinger. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Ballinger
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 Ballinger average
Your land is one point inside Ballinger
Everything above resolves to Ballinger as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Runnels 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 Ballinger Average
Ballinger Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Ballinger
- ●One soil character for all of Ballinger
- ●Frost dates read at Ballinger's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ballinger's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ballinger
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ballinger, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ballinger averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ballinger — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ballinger average
How we know this about Ballinger
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 Runnels 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 Ballinger
When does frost risk typically end in Ballinger?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ballinger typically lands around Mar 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Ballinger?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ballinger typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ballinger?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ballinger sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 6 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 27 to Nov 9, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ballinger?
The federal record around Ballinger shows 79 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (67), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Ballinger?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ballinger's scale — its 8b band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ballinger'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 Ballinger’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ballinger's own scale — the 2,239 acres it covers and 79 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ballinger's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 79 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ballinger, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ballinger's boundary and the 2,239 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ballinger's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ballinger has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Runnels County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ballinger's 2,239 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Runnels County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Runnels 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 Runnels County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ballinger's 2,239 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ballinger you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,239 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Ballinger-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasBallinger sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides