Bellville, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bellville, 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 Bellville 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 Bellville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bellville — the short answer
Bellville, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 304 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 4
- Austin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Austin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~304
- Austin 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 Austin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Bellville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bellville's 304-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bellville
Each reading below is measured for Bellville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBellville runs about 304 days between hard freezes (read from Austin County, the closest normal to Bellville) — 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
MeasuredBellville sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Bellville is in
Bellville sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bellville's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Austin County is mostly Western Gulf Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Bellville
Every plant below cleared Bellville's own zone 9a and its 304-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bellville?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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 Bellville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bellville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AP-66-06-607Nitrate · 700 ft
- AP-66-06-603Nitrate · 950 ft
- OLD TESCO PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CITY OF BELLVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- C MARTIN CARD JRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- W C KNOLLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- LION MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- JANOSKY GULF SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- BELLVILLE TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 41009Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- KOSSE CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #3774Brownfields · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bellville'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 Bellville.
Total Sites
113
within ~10 miles of Bellville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bellville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bellville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bellville, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 82 sites within ~10 miles of Bellville. 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 Bellville
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 Bellville average
Your land is one point inside Bellville
Everything above resolves to Bellville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Austin 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 Bellville Average
Bellville Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Bellville
- ●One soil character for all of Bellville
- ●Frost dates read at Bellville's scale: Feb 4 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bellville's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bellville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bellville, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bellville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bellville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bellville average
How we know this about Bellville
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 Austin 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 Bellville
When does frost risk typically end in Bellville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bellville typically lands around Feb 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 Feb 25.
When is the first frost in Bellville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bellville typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 304 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bellville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bellville sees about 304 frost-free days — roughly Feb 4 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 25 to Nov 21, about 269 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bellville?
The federal record around Bellville is a meaningful one — 113 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (82), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Bellville?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bellville's scale — its 9a band and its 304-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bellville'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 Bellville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bellville's own scale — the 1,743 acres it covers and 113 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bellville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 113 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bellville, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bellville's boundary and the 1,743 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~304-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bellville sits in the East Central Texas Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bellville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Austin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bellville's 1,743 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Austin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Austin 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 Austin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bellville's 1,743 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bellville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,743 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Bellville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasBellville sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides