What Grows in Clarksville, Texas

USDA Zones 8b · 2K acres

Clarksville, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.

Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Clarksville, 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 Clarksville 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 Clarksville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Clarksville — the short answer

Clarksville, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 267 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.

USDA zone
8b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Feb 28
Red River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Nov 22
Red River County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
Days between freezes
~267
Red River 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 Red River County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.

Hardiness Zone Range

8b8b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 8b is Clarksville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clarksville's 267-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Clarksville

Each reading below is measured for Clarksville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

From county records

Clarksville runs about 267 days between hard freezes (read from Red River County, the closest normal to Clarksville) — 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

Measured

Clarksville 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 Clarksville is in

Clarksville sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Clarksville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Red River County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Clarksville

Every plant below cleared Clarksville's own zone 8b and its 267-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in TexasZones 2–11Clarksville's 8b — 6 zones of cold margin.
fig, photograph
Texas fig guideZones 6–10Clarksville's 8b — 2 zones of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in TexasZones 6–10Clarksville's 8b — 2 zones of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Texas growing notesZones 2–11Clarksville's 8b — 6 zones of cold margin.
loquat, photograph
Growing loquat in TexasZones 7–10Clarksville's 8b — 1 zone of cold margin.
rosemary, photograph
Texas rosemary guideZones 8–10Clarksville's 8b is its exact cold limit.
kale, photograph
Kale in TexasZones 2–11Clarksville's 8b — 6 zones of cold margin.
pomegranate, photograph
Pomegranate: Texas growing notesZones 7–10Clarksville's 8b — 1 zone of cold margin.
lavender, photograph
Growing lavender in TexasZones 5–8Clarksville's 8b — 3 zones of cold margin.
lentil, photograph
Texas lentil guideZones 2–11Clarksville's 267 days clear the ~70 it needs.
prickly pear, photograph
Prickly pear in TexasZones 5–10Clarksville's 8b — 3 zones of cold margin.
okra, photograph
Okra: Texas growing notesZones 2–12Clarksville's 267 days clear the ~50 it needs.
almond, photograph
Growing almond in TexasZones 5–9Clarksville's 8b — 3 zones of cold margin.
potato, photograph
Texas potato guideZones 2–11Clarksville's 8b — 6 zones of cold margin.
pumpkin, photograph
Pumpkin in TexasZones 3–11Clarksville's 267 days clear the ~40 it needs.
iris, photograph
Iris: Texas growing notesZones 3–10Clarksville's 8b — 5 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in TexasZones 2–11Clarksville's 267 days clear the ~70 it needs.
Apache plume, photograph
Texas apache plume guideZones 5–11Clarksville's 8b — 3 zones of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in TexasZones 3–8Clarksville's 8b — 5 zones of cold margin.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Texas growing notesZones 3–8Clarksville's 8b — 5 zones of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in TexasClarksville's 267 days clear the ~50 it needs.
holly, photograph
Texas holly guideZones 5–11Clarksville's 8b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Carolina jessamine, photograph
Carolina jessamine in TexasZones 7–10Clarksville's 8b — 1 zone of cold margin.
tulip, photograph
Tulip: Texas growing notesZones 6–8Clarksville's 8b — 2 zones of cold margin.
redbud, photograph
Growing redbud in TexasZones 5–11Clarksville's 8b — 3 zones of cold margin.
pearl millet, photograph
Texas pearl millet guideZones 5–11Clarksville's 267 days clear the ~60 it needs.
ajuga, photograph
Ajuga in TexasZones 5–11Clarksville's 8b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Douglas fir, photograph
Douglas fir: Texas growing notesZones 4–10Clarksville's 8b — 4 zones of cold margin.
phacelia, photograph
Growing phacelia in TexasZones 2–11Clarksville's 267 days clear the ~100 it needs.
liriope, photograph
Texas liriope guideZones 5–11Clarksville's 8b — 3 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Clarksville?

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 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.

What's on the federal record near Clarksville

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clarksville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. TARRANT 43Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
  2. QUICK TRACK 19Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
  3. QUICK TRACK 17Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
  4. CITY OF CLARKSVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
  5. GILBERT & BALLGENTINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
  6. BALLANTINE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
  7. CVS PHARMACY #11152Brownfields · 1200 ft
  8. WAREHOUSE LOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
  9. LARRY MOORE TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
  10. WOOLEYS 66 SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
  11. CLARKSVILLE 7-11Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
  12. CLARKSVILLE ISD BUS BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Clarksville'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 Clarksville.

Total Sites

84

within ~10 miles of Clarksville

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Clarksville

High0Moderate27Low57

Highest-Severity Sites

Ballantine Exxon
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Chuck Kennedy
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
Clarksville Walmart
Superfund · Superfund (Non-NPL)
Dougs Store
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)
East End Station
Underground Storage Tanks · Open UST(S)

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Clarksville, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 75 sites within ~10 miles of Clarksville. 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.

Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Clarksville

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 Clarksville average

Your land is one point inside Clarksville

Everything above resolves to Clarksville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Red River 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 Clarksville Average

Clarksville Average

  • USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Clarksville
  • One soil character for all of Clarksville
  • Frost dates read at Clarksville's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 22

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Clarksville's 8b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Clarksville

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clarksville, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Clarksville averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Clarksville averages 267Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Clarksville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clarksville average

How we know this about Clarksville

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 Red River 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 Clarksville

When does frost risk typically end in Clarksville?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clarksville typically lands around Feb 28, 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 21.

When is the first frost in Clarksville?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clarksville typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 267 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Clarksville?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clarksville sees about 267 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 8, about 232 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clarksville?

The federal record around Clarksville is a meaningful one — 84 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (75), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Clarksville?

From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Clarksville's scale — its 8b band and its 267-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clarksville'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 Clarksville’s own scale

5 of the readings below were taken at Clarksville's own scale — the 1,942 acres it covers and 84 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Clarksville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • 84 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clarksville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Clarksville's boundary and the 1,942 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~267-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Clarksville's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Clarksville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Red River County
  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Clarksville's 1,942 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Red River County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Red River 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 Red River County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clarksville's 1,942 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Clarksville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,942 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Clarksville-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address

More in Texas

Wider growing context

What grows across Texas

Clarksville sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.

Nearby growing guides