Brownwood, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Brownwood, 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 Brownwood 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 Brownwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Brownwood — the short answer
Brownwood, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Brown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 20
- Brown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Brown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 10K 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 Brown County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Brownwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brownwood's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brownwood
Each reading below is measured for Brownwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBrownwood runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Brown County, the closest normal to Brownwood) — 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
MeasuredBrownwood sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Brownwood is in
Brownwood sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Brownwood's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Brown County is mostly Cross Timbers. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Brownwood
Every plant below cleared Brownwood's own zone 8a and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brownwood?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 20 — 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 Brownwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brownwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LILLY FOODUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- ACADEMY LANESUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- THE BIKE PEDDLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #3647Brownfields · 1100 ft
- AUSTIN AVE 66Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- AT&SF RAILWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- ALLSUPS 158Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- AFCO 010126Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- COLEMAN DISTRIBUTINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HUNTER STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- BROWNWOOD SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brownwood'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 Brownwood.
Total Sites
228
within ~10 miles of Brownwood
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brownwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brownwood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Brownwood, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Brownwood — CAFO (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (193 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Brownwood
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 Brownwood average
Your land is one point inside Brownwood
Everything above resolves to Brownwood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Brown 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 Brownwood Average
Brownwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Brownwood
- ●One soil character for all of Brownwood
- ●Frost dates read at Brownwood's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brownwood's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brownwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brownwood, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brownwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brownwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brownwood average
How we know this about Brownwood
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 Brown 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 Brownwood
When does frost risk typically end in Brownwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brownwood typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Brownwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brownwood typically arrives around Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 6, so the watching starts about Oct 21 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brownwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brownwood sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 6, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brownwood?
The federal record around Brownwood is a meaningful one — 228 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (193), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Brownwood?
From about Oct 21 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Brownwood's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brownwood'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 Brownwood’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Brownwood's own scale — the 9,549 acres it covers and 228 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brownwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 228 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brownwood, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brownwood's boundary and the 9,549 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Brownwood sits in the Central Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Brownwood has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Brown County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Brownwood's 9,549 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Brown County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Brown 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 Brown County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brownwood's 9,549 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brownwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,549 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Brownwood-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasBrownwood sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides