Bandera, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Bandera, 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 Bandera 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 Bandera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bandera — the short answer
Bandera, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 729 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 4
- Bandera County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Bandera County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Bandera County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 729 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 Bandera County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Bandera's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bandera's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bandera
Each reading below is measured for Bandera itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBandera runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Bandera County, the closest normal to Bandera) — 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
MeasuredBandera 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 Bandera is in
Bandera sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Bandera's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bandera County.
What Grows in Bandera
Every plant below cleared Bandera's own zone 8b and its 264-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bandera?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 4 (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. 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 Bandera
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bandera. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FIVE POINTS MARKET 20Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FELLOWS AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- ADAMSONS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- BANDERA ISD TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- VACANT LOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #1975Brownfields · 1200 ft
- BANDERA ICE HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- GASGO MARKETS 9Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- MINI MART 2Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- TRIPPSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- BANDERA BEVERAGE BARN & RV PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- AS-69-24-208Nitrate · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bandera'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 Bandera.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bandera
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bandera
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bandera, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 14 sites within ~10 miles of Bandera. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Bandera
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 Bandera average
Your land is one point inside Bandera
Everything above resolves to Bandera as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 729 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bandera 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 Bandera Average
Bandera Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Bandera
- ●One soil character for all of Bandera
- ●Frost dates read at Bandera's scale: Mar 4 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bandera's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bandera
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bandera, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bandera averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bandera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bandera average
How we know this about Bandera
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 Bandera 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 Bandera
When does frost risk typically end in Bandera?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bandera typically lands around Mar 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Bandera?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bandera 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 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bandera?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bandera sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 4 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 25 to Nov 9, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bandera?
The federal record around Bandera is light — 31 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (15), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Bandera?
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 Bandera's scale — its 8b band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bandera'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 Bandera’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bandera's own scale — the 729 acres it covers and 31 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bandera's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 31 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bandera, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bandera's boundary and the 729 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~264-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bandera's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bandera has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bandera County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bandera's 729 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bandera County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bandera 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 Bandera County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bandera's 729 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bandera you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 729 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bandera-wide figureread your own land →
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