Bulverde, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bulverde, 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 Bulverde 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 Bulverde — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bulverde — the short answer
Bulverde, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 295 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Comal County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Comal County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~295
- Comal 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 Comal County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Bulverde's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bulverde's 295-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bulverde
Each reading below is measured for Bulverde itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBulverde runs about 295 days between hard freezes (read from Comal County, the closest normal to Bulverde) — 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
MeasuredBulverde 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 Bulverde is in
Bulverde sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Bulverde's own centroid rather than borrowed from Comal County.
What Grows in Bulverde
Every plant below cleared Bulverde's own zone 8b and its 295-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bulverde?
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 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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.
Documented around Bulverde
Survey cells within 31 miles of Bulverde checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 660 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Bulverde
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bulverde. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DX-68-13-809Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- HOME DEPOT STORE 6989Brownfields · 1.5 mi
- 7-ELEVEN 36259Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY #751Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- HEB 622Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- HEB 484Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- CARLS CLEANERSBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- RANGER CLEANERSBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- CVS PHARMACY 10428Brownfields · 1.9 mi
- KWIK CHEK 58Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER 3056Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- DX-68-13-6 (Hanz)Nitrate · 2.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bulverde'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 Bulverde.
Total Sites
106
within ~10 miles of Bulverde
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bulverde
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bulverde
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 Bulverde
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 Bulverde average
Your land is one point inside Bulverde
Everything above resolves to Bulverde as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Comal 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 Bulverde Average
Bulverde Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Bulverde
- ●One soil character for all of Bulverde
- ●Frost dates read at Bulverde's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bulverde's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bulverde
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bulverde, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bulverde averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bulverde — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bulverde average
How we know this about Bulverde
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 Comal 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 Bulverde
When does frost risk typically end in Bulverde?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bulverde typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Bulverde?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bulverde typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 295 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bulverde?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bulverde sees about 295 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 19, about 260 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bulverde?
The federal record around Bulverde is a meaningful one — 106 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (62), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.2 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 Bulverde?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bulverde's scale — its 8b band and its 295-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bulverde'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 Bulverde’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bulverde's own scale — the 10,119 acres it covers and 106 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bulverde's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 106 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bulverde, the closest Nitrate record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bulverde's boundary and the 10,119 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~295-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bulverde's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Bulverde checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bulverde has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Comal County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bulverde's 10,119 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Comal County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Comal 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 Comal County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bulverde's 10,119 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bulverde you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,119 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.2 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 Bulverde-wide figureread your own land →