Bay City, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Bay City, 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 Bay City 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 Bay City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bay City — the short answer
Bay City, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 322 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Matagorda County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 15
- Matagorda County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~322
- Matagorda County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Matagorda County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Bay City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bay City's 322-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bay City
Each reading below is measured for Bay City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBay City runs about 322 days between hard freezes (read from Matagorda County, the closest normal to Bay City) — 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
MeasuredBay City sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Bay City is in
Bay City sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Bay City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Matagorda County.
What Grows in Bay City
Every plant below cleared Bay City's own zone 9b and its 322-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bay City?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Bay City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bay City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FRANKIES EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- DIAMOND MINI MART 202Underground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- JKS HANDY MART 2Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- HEB 292Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- BAY CITY FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- LEOS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- BAY CITY ISD TRANSPORTATION DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BAY CITY SANDBrownfields · 1300 ft
- GERNAND BUILDERS SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TA-81-01-104Nitrate · 1400 ft
- 7TH STREET MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- BAY CITY CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bay City'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 Bay City.
Total Sites
309
within ~10 miles of Bay City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bay City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bay City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bay City, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bay City — Nitrate (82 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (193 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Bay City
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 Bay City average
Your land is one point inside Bay City
Everything above resolves to Bay City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Matagorda 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 Bay City Average
Bay City Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Bay City
- ●One soil character for all of Bay City
- ●Frost dates read at Bay City's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bay City's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bay City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bay City, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bay City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bay City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bay City average
How we know this about Bay City
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 Matagorda 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 Bay City
When does frost risk typically end in Bay City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bay City typically lands around Jan 27, 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 Feb 17.
When is the first frost in Bay City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bay City typically arrives around Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 1, so the watching starts about Nov 15 — about 322 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bay City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bay City sees about 322 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Dec 1, about 287 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bay City?
The federal record around Bay City is a meaningful one — 309 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (193), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Bay City?
From about Nov 15 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 Dec 15 (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 Dec 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bay City's scale — its 9b band and its 322-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bay City'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 Bay City’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bay City's own scale — the 5,932 acres it covers and 309 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bay City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 309 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bay City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bay City's boundary and the 5,932 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~322-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bay City's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bay City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Matagorda County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bay City's 5,932 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Matagorda County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Matagorda 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 Matagorda County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bay City's 5,932 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bay City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,932 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Bay City-wide figureread your own land →
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