Burlington, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Burlington, 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 Burlington 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 Burlington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Burlington — the short answer
Burlington, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 297 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Milam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Milam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~297
- Milam County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Milam County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Burlington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Burlington's 297-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Burlington
Each reading below is measured for Burlington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBurlington runs about 297 days between hard freezes (read from Milam County, the closest normal to Burlington) — 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
MeasuredBurlington 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 Burlington is in
Burlington sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Burlington's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Milam County is mostly East Central Texas Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Burlington
Every plant below cleared Burlington's own zone 9a and its 297-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Burlington?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Burlington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Burlington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LEONS SELF SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- CEFCO 2Underground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- TRUBEES AUTO SERVICEBrownfields · 4.8 mi
- ROSEBUD GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- M & M FUEL PLUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- MAREKS TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- CITY OF ROSEBUDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- BELFALLS ELECTRIC COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- CONTEL OF TEXASUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- BERNSEN FARM EQUIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- B F & M COOPERATIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- MCKINNEY BODY SHOPBrownfields · 8.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Burlington'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 Burlington.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Burlington
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Burlington
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 Burlington average
Your land is one point inside Burlington
Everything above resolves to Burlington as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Milam 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 Burlington Average
Burlington Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Burlington
- ●One soil character for all of Burlington
- ●Frost dates read at Burlington's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Burlington's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Burlington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Burlington, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Burlington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Burlington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Burlington average
How we know this about Burlington
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 Milam 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 Burlington
When does frost risk typically end in Burlington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Burlington typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Burlington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Burlington typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 297 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Burlington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Burlington sees about 297 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 18, about 262 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Burlington?
The federal record around Burlington is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (19), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 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 Burlington?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Burlington's scale — its 9a band and its 297-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Burlington'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 Burlington’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Burlington's own scale — the 2,573 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Burlington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Burlington, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Burlington's boundary and the 2,573 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~297-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Burlington sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Burlington has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Milam County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Burlington's 2,573 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Milam County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Milam 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 Milam County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Burlington's 2,573 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Burlington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,573 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 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 Burlington-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasBurlington sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides