Central Gardens, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Central Gardens, 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 Central Gardens 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 Central Gardens — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Central Gardens — the short answer
Central Gardens, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 315 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 29
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~315
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Jefferson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Central Gardens's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Central Gardens's 315-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Central Gardens
Each reading below is measured for Central Gardens itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCentral Gardens runs about 315 days between hard freezes (read from Jefferson County, the closest normal to Central Gardens) — 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
MeasuredCentral Gardens sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Central Gardens is in
Central Gardens sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Central Gardens's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Central Gardens
Every plant below cleared Central Gardens's own zone 9b and its 315-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Central Gardens?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Central Gardens
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Central Gardens. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOTAL ENERGY SERVICESBrownfields · 2500 ft
- PT-64-08-301Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- K YOUNGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WLAKER AUTOBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- BUCKSAVERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HEAD & GUILD EQUIPMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HEAD & GUILD CRANE COBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- SUNRISE 4Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CIRCLE K 2717Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BENNYS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- DANS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- PEAK ENVIRONMENTAL AND MANAGEMENT SERVICES - NEDERBrownfields · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Central Gardens'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 Central Gardens.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Central Gardens
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Central Gardens
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Central Gardens, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 107 sites within ~10 miles of Central Gardens. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Central Gardens
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 Central Gardens average
Your land is one point inside Central Gardens
Everything above resolves to Central Gardens as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jefferson 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 Central Gardens Average
Central Gardens Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Central Gardens
- ●One soil character for all of Central Gardens
- ●Frost dates read at Central Gardens's scale: Jan 29 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Central Gardens's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Central Gardens
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Central Gardens, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Central Gardens averages can't show:
We read public map data around Central Gardens — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Central Gardens average
How we know this about Central Gardens
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 Jefferson 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 Central Gardens
When does frost risk typically end in Central Gardens?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Central Gardens typically lands around Jan 29, 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 Feb 19.
When is the first frost in Central Gardens?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Central Gardens typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 315 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Central Gardens?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Central Gardens sees about 315 frost-free days — roughly Jan 29 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 19 to Nov 26, about 280 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Central Gardens?
The federal record around Central Gardens runs heavier than most — 1,445 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (838), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Central Gardens?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Central Gardens's scale — its 9b band and its 315-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Central Gardens'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 Central Gardens’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Central Gardens's own scale — the 1,613 acres it covers and 1,445 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Central Gardens's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,445 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Central Gardens, the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Central Gardens's boundary and the 1,613 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~315-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Central Gardens's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Central Gardens has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jefferson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Central Gardens's 1,613 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Central Gardens's 1,613 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Central Gardens you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,613 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 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 Central Gardens-wide figureread your own land →
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