Buchanan Dam, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Buchanan Dam, 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 Buchanan Dam 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 Buchanan Dam — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Buchanan Dam — the short answer
Buchanan Dam, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 270 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Llano County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Llano County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~270
- Llano County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Llano County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Buchanan Dam's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Buchanan Dam's 270-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Buchanan Dam
Each reading below is measured for Buchanan Dam itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBuchanan Dam runs about 270 days between hard freezes (read from Llano County, the closest normal to Buchanan Dam) — 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
MeasuredBuchanan Dam 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 Buchanan Dam is in
Buchanan Dam sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Buchanan Dam's own centroid rather than borrowed from Llano County.
What Grows in Buchanan Dam
Every plant below cleared Buchanan Dam's own zone 8b and its 270-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Buchanan Dam?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Buchanan Dam
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Buchanan Dam. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BLUFFTON STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Baringer Hill MineMining · 2.8 mi
- J & S QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- BIG BUCKS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- J & S FOOD MART EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- BUCHANAN DAM FACILITYBrownfields · 4.9 mi
- Silver Creek MineMining · 5.4 mi
- INDIAN HILLS STOP N GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- LONGHORN GROCERY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- CROSSROADSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- Bailey ProspectMining · 6.1 mi
- Frank Thomas FarmMining · 6.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Buchanan Dam'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 Buchanan Dam.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Buchanan Dam
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Buchanan Dam
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Buchanan Dam, Mining runs higher than the national average — 13 sites within ~10 miles of Buchanan Dam. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Buchanan Dam
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 Buchanan Dam average
Your land is one point inside Buchanan Dam
Everything above resolves to Buchanan Dam as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Llano 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 Buchanan Dam Average
Buchanan Dam Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Buchanan Dam
- ●One soil character for all of Buchanan Dam
- ●Frost dates read at Buchanan Dam's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Buchanan Dam's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Buchanan Dam
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Buchanan Dam, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Buchanan Dam averages can't show:
We read public map data around Buchanan Dam — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Buchanan Dam average
How we know this about Buchanan Dam
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 Llano 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 Buchanan Dam
When does frost risk typically end in Buchanan Dam?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Buchanan Dam typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Buchanan Dam?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Buchanan Dam typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 270 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Buchanan Dam?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Buchanan Dam sees about 270 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 9, about 235 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Buchanan Dam?
The federal record around Buchanan Dam shows 27 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (13), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.3 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 Buchanan Dam?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Buchanan Dam's scale — its 8b band and its 270-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Buchanan Dam'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 Buchanan Dam’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Buchanan Dam's own scale — the 4,957 acres it covers and 27 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Buchanan Dam's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 27 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Buchanan Dam, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Buchanan Dam's boundary and the 4,957 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~270-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Buchanan Dam's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Buchanan Dam has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Llano County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Buchanan Dam's 4,957 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Llano County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Llano 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 Llano County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Buchanan Dam's 4,957 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Buchanan Dam you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,957 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.3 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 Buchanan Dam-wide figureread your own land →
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