Beckville, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Beckville, 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 Beckville 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 Beckville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Beckville — the short answer
Beckville, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 280 days between hard freezes, across 779 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Panola County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Panola County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~280
- Panola County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 779 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 Panola County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Beckville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Beckville's 280-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Beckville
Each reading below is measured for Beckville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBeckville runs about 280 days between hard freezes (read from Panola County, the closest normal to Beckville) — 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
MeasuredBeckville 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 Beckville is in
Beckville sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Beckville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Panola County.
What Grows in Beckville
Every plant below cleared Beckville's own zone 8b and its 280-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Beckville?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Beckville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Beckville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ZIPPY JSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORES OF TEXAS, LLC. #11590Brownfields · 1600 ft
- BEARCAT GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- PIERCE CONSTRUCTIONBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- UL-35-45-707Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- UL-35-45-705Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- UL-35-45-9XXNitrate · 4.6 mi
- UL-35-53-6XXNitrate · 5.5 mi
- CARTHAGE GAS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 5.6 mi
- RIDERVILLE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- HOT SPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- GEORGE GRAY GAS PLANTBrownfields · 6.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Beckville'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 Beckville.
Total Sites
109
within ~10 miles of Beckville
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Beckville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Beckville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Beckville, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 8 sites within ~10 miles of Beckville. 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.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Beckville
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 Beckville average
Your land is one point inside Beckville
Everything above resolves to Beckville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 779 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Panola 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 Beckville Average
Beckville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Beckville
- ●One soil character for all of Beckville
- ●Frost dates read at Beckville's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Beckville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Beckville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Beckville, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Beckville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Beckville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Beckville average
How we know this about Beckville
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 Panola 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 Beckville
When does frost risk typically end in Beckville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Beckville typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Beckville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Beckville typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 280 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Beckville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Beckville sees about 280 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 15, about 245 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Beckville?
The federal record around Beckville shows 109 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Beckville?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Beckville's scale — its 8b band and its 280-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Beckville'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 Beckville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Beckville's own scale — the 779 acres it covers and 109 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Beckville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 109 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Beckville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Beckville's boundary and the 779 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~280-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Beckville's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Beckville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Panola County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Beckville's 779 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Panola County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Panola 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 Panola County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Beckville's 779 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Beckville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 779 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 Beckville-wide figureread your own land →
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