Colmesneil, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Colmesneil, 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 Colmesneil 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 Colmesneil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Colmesneil — the short answer
Colmesneil, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 305 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 5
- Tyler County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Tyler County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~305
- Tyler County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Tyler County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Colmesneil's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Colmesneil's 305-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Colmesneil
Each reading below is measured for Colmesneil itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsColmesneil runs about 305 days between hard freezes (read from Tyler County, the closest normal to Colmesneil) — 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
MeasuredColmesneil 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 Colmesneil is in
Colmesneil sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Colmesneil's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tyler County.
What Grows in Colmesneil
Every plant below cleared Colmesneil's own zone 9a and its 305-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Colmesneil?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 7 — 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 Colmesneil
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Colmesneil. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SUNSHINE GROCERIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- PEAK H P AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 2200 ft
- COLMESNEIL ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #10646Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- YJ-61-05-811Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- COLMESNEIL ISDBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- XS GARAGEBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- HILLTOP GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- YJ-61-13-503Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- YJ-61-13-513Nitrate · 6.3 mi
- NON-FERROUS EXTRUSION & SCRAP METALS INCToxics Release Inventory · 7.0 mi
- YJ-37-61-903Nitrate · 7.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Colmesneil'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 Colmesneil.
Total Sites
121
within ~10 miles of Colmesneil
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Colmesneil
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Colmesneil
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Colmesneil, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 89 sites within ~10 miles of Colmesneil. 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.
Check your specific parcel in Colmesneil
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 Colmesneil average
Your land is one point inside Colmesneil
Everything above resolves to Colmesneil as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tyler 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 Colmesneil Average
Colmesneil Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Colmesneil
- ●One soil character for all of Colmesneil
- ●Frost dates read at Colmesneil's scale: Feb 5 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Colmesneil's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Colmesneil
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Colmesneil, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Colmesneil averages can't show:
We read public map data around Colmesneil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Colmesneil average
How we know this about Colmesneil
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 Tyler 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 Colmesneil
When does frost risk typically end in Colmesneil?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Colmesneil typically lands around Feb 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Colmesneil?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Colmesneil typically arrives around Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 23, so the watching starts about Nov 7 — about 305 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Colmesneil?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Colmesneil sees about 305 frost-free days — roughly Feb 5 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 26 to Nov 23, about 270 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Colmesneil?
The federal record around Colmesneil shows 121 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (89), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Colmesneil?
From about Nov 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Colmesneil's scale — its 9a band and its 305-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Colmesneil'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 Colmesneil’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Colmesneil's own scale — the 1,281 acres it covers and 121 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Colmesneil's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 121 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Colmesneil, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Colmesneil's boundary and the 1,281 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~305-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Colmesneil's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Colmesneil has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tyler County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Colmesneil's 1,281 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tyler County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tyler 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 Tyler County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Colmesneil's 1,281 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Colmesneil you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,281 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Colmesneil-wide figureread your own land →
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