Carlton, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Carlton, 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 Carlton 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 Carlton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Carlton — the short answer
Carlton, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 501 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 501 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 Hamilton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Carlton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Carlton's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Carlton
Each reading below is measured for Carlton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCarlton runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Hamilton County, the closest normal to Carlton) — 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
MeasuredCarlton 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 Carlton is in
Carlton sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Carlton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hamilton County.
What Grows in Carlton
Every plant below cleared Carlton's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Carlton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Carlton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Carlton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FLUIT SOUTH DAIRYCAFO · 2.8 mi
- BROUMLEY HEIFERSCAFO · 2.8 mi
- AL & JERRY LUECK FARMS, LLC.CAFO · 3.8 mi
- BROKEN O CATTLECAFO · 4.7 mi
- JOCHUM SCHIEVINK DAIRYCAFO · 4.8 mi
- WINDMILL FARMSCAFO · 5.1 mi
- WINDMILL DAIRYCAFO · 5.1 mi
- SOUTHWESTERN OTX REAL ESTATE SITECAFO · 5.9 mi
- SUNDANCE DAIRYCAFO · 5.9 mi
- TRIVOLI PIVOT 5CAFO · 7.3 mi
- MARBLE WAGYU BEEFCAFO · 7.6 mi
- HORIZON DAIRYCAFO · 8.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Carlton'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 Carlton.
Total Sites
26
within ~10 miles of Carlton
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
20 concentrated animal feeding operations
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Carlton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Carlton, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of Carlton. 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.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Carlton
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 Carlton average
Your land is one point inside Carlton
Everything above resolves to Carlton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 501 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hamilton 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 Carlton Average
Carlton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Carlton
- ●One soil character for all of Carlton
- ●Frost dates read at Carlton's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Carlton's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Carlton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Carlton, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Carlton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Carlton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Carlton average
How we know this about Carlton
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 Hamilton 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 Carlton
When does frost risk typically end in Carlton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Carlton typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Carlton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Carlton typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Carlton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Carlton sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 12, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Carlton?
The federal record around Carlton is light — 26 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly CAFO entries (20), the nearest CAFO record about 2.8 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 Carlton?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Carlton's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Carlton'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 Carlton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Carlton's own scale — the 501 acres it covers and 26 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Carlton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 26 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Carlton, the closest CAFO record about 2.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Carlton's boundary and the 501 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Carlton's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Carlton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hamilton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Carlton's 501 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hamilton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hamilton 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 Hamilton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Carlton's 501 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Carlton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 501 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest CAFO record about 2.8 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 Carlton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasCarlton sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.