Briggs, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Briggs, 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 Briggs 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 Briggs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Briggs — the short answer
Briggs, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 281 days between hard freezes, across 352 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Burnet County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Burnet County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~281
- Burnet County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 352 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 Burnet County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Briggs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Briggs's 281-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Briggs
Each reading below is measured for Briggs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBriggs runs about 281 days between hard freezes (read from Burnet County, the closest normal to Briggs) — 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
MeasuredBriggs 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 Briggs is in
Briggs sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Briggs's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Burnet County is mostly Edwards Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Briggs
Every plant below cleared Briggs's own zone 8b and its 281-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Briggs?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Briggs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Briggs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JS MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- FIREFLY TEST FACILITYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- DRILL BIT EXCHANGEToxics Release Inventory · 6.6 mi
- FLORENCE HMPToxics Release Inventory · 7.9 mi
- THE STORE OF FLORENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.0 mi
- CORNERSTOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- FAMILY AUTO SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- CHEVRON FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- D BOONES COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.6 mi
- AX-58-02-901Nitrate · 9.1 mi
- BT-57-08-502Nitrate · 9.1 mi
- AX-58-02-304 (CUWCD M-19-002P)Nitrate · 9.5 mi
1 more site is on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Briggs'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 Briggs.
Total Sites
16
within ~10 miles of Briggs
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Briggs
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Briggs
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.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Briggs
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 Briggs average
Your land is one point inside Briggs
Everything above resolves to Briggs as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 352 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Burnet County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Briggs Average
Briggs Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Briggs
- ●One soil character for all of Briggs
- ●Frost dates read at Briggs's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Briggs's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Briggs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Briggs, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Briggs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Briggs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Briggs average
How we know this about Briggs
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Burnet 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Briggs
When does frost risk typically end in Briggs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Briggs typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Briggs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Briggs 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 281 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Briggs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Briggs sees about 281 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 14, about 246 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Briggs?
The federal record around Briggs is light — 16 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (7), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Briggs?
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 Briggs's scale — its 8b band and its 281-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Briggs'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 Briggs’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Briggs's own scale — the 352 acres it covers and 16 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Briggs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 16 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Briggs, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Briggs's boundary and the 352 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~281-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Briggs sits in the Cross Timbers — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Briggs has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Burnet County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Briggs's 352 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Burnet County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Burnet 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 Burnet County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Briggs's 352 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Briggs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 352 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 Briggs-wide figureread your own land →
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