Burke, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Burke, 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 Burke 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 Burke — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Burke — the short answer
Burke, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Angelina County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Angelina County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- Angelina County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Angelina County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Burke's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Burke's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Burke
Each reading below is measured for Burke itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBurke runs about 288 days between hard freezes (read from Angelina County, the closest normal to Burke) — 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
MeasuredBurke sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Burke is in
Burke sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Burke's own centroid rather than borrowed from Angelina County.
What Grows in Burke
Every plant below cleared Burke's own zone 9a and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Burke?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — 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 Burke
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Burke. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ANGELINA COUNTY AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ON THE ROAD 110Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- DIBOLL DEPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- ANDREWS LOGISTICSBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- MOMENTIVE SPECIALTY CHEMICALS INC - DIBOLL SITEBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- MOMENTIVE SPECIALTY CHEMICALS INC - DIBOLL SITEToxics Release Inventory · 2.9 mi
- FAIRVIEW MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- ATLAS ROOFING CORPToxics Release Inventory · 3.0 mi
- TEMPLE ASSOCIATES YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- DIBOLL PARTICLEBOARD OPERATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- TEMPLE-INLANDToxics Release Inventory · 3.0 mi
- GEORGIA-PACIFIC PANEL PRODUCTS LLCBrownfields · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Burke'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 Burke.
Total Sites
416
within ~10 miles of Burke
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Burke
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Burke
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Burke, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Burke — Underground Storage Tanks (323 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (31 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Burke
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 Burke average
Your land is one point inside Burke
Everything above resolves to Burke as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Angelina 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 Burke Average
Burke Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Burke
- ●One soil character for all of Burke
- ●Frost dates read at Burke's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Burke's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Burke
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Burke, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Burke averages can't show:
We read public map data around Burke — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Burke average
How we know this about Burke
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 Angelina 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 Burke
When does frost risk typically end in Burke?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Burke typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Burke?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Burke typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Burke?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Burke sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 17, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Burke?
The federal record around Burke is a meaningful one — 416 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (323), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Burke?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Burke's scale — its 9a band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Burke'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 Burke’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Burke's own scale — the 1,802 acres it covers and 416 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Burke's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 416 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Burke, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Burke's boundary and the 1,802 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Burke's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Burke has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Angelina County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Burke's 1,802 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Angelina County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Angelina 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 Angelina County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Burke's 1,802 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Burke you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,802 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Burke-wide figureread your own land →
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