Boerne, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Boerne, 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 Boerne 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 Boerne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Boerne — the short answer
Boerne, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 279 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Kendall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Kendall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~279
- Kendall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Kendall County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Boerne's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Boerne's 279-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Boerne
Each reading below is measured for Boerne itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBoerne runs about 279 days between hard freezes (read from Kendall County, the closest normal to Boerne) — 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
MeasuredBoerne 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 Boerne is in
Boerne sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Boerne's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kendall County.
What Grows in Boerne
Every plant below cleared Boerne's own zone 8b and its 279-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Boerne?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 28 — 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 Boerne
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Boerne. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CORNER STORE 91Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- RIVERSIDE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- WAL-MART STORE 1126Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- WA AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- TXDOT MAINT FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- LESTERS AUTOMOTIVE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- HEB 621Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- BERGMANN LUMBERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER 1126Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER 1126Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- MURPHY USA 7652Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MR DS CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Boerne'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 Boerne.
Total Sites
84
within ~10 miles of Boerne
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Boerne
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Boerne
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Boerne
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 Boerne average
Your land is one point inside Boerne
Everything above resolves to Boerne as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Kendall 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 Boerne Average
Boerne Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Boerne
- ●One soil character for all of Boerne
- ●Frost dates read at Boerne's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Boerne's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Boerne
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Boerne, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Boerne averages can't show:
We read public map data around Boerne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Boerne average
How we know this about Boerne
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 Kendall 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 Boerne
When does frost risk typically end in Boerne?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Boerne 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 Boerne?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Boerne typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 279 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Boerne?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Boerne sees about 279 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 14, about 244 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Boerne?
The federal record around Boerne is a meaningful one — 84 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (48), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Boerne?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Boerne's scale — its 8b band and its 279-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Boerne'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 Boerne’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Boerne's own scale — the 7,523 acres it covers and 84 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Boerne's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 84 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Boerne, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Boerne's boundary and the 7,523 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~279-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Boerne's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Boerne has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Kendall County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Boerne's 7,523 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kendall County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kendall 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 Kendall County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Boerne's 7,523 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Boerne you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,523 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 Boerne-wide figureread your own land →
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