Cottonwood, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cottonwood, 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 Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cottonwood — the short answer
Cottonwood, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 280 days between hard freezes, across 924 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Kaufman County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Kaufman County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~280
- Kaufman County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 924 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 Kaufman County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Cottonwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cottonwood's 280-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cottonwood
Each reading below is measured for Cottonwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCottonwood runs about 280 days between hard freezes (read from Kaufman County, the closest normal to Cottonwood) — 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
MeasuredCottonwood 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 Cottonwood is in
Cottonwood sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cottonwood's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Kaufman County is mostly Texas Blackland Prairies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Cottonwood
Every plant below cleared Cottonwood's own zone 8b and its 280-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cottonwood?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Cottonwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cottonwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SCURRY-ROSSER ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- KELLYS FOODUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- SCURRY NORTH FORTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- THE LIVELY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- TELICO FEED STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- VOGELSONG PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.2 mi
- KEMP PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.2 mi
- NATIONAL CONTAINER GROUP KEMP TXToxics Release Inventory · 9.2 mi
- TXDOT KAUFMAN MAINTENANCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.6 mi
- BROOKSHIRE GROCERY 35Underground Storage Tanks · 9.6 mi
- PANTEX MANUFACTURING INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 9.9 mi
- SALS BEER WINE & GROCERIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cottonwood'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 Cottonwood.
Total Sites
23
within ~10 miles of Cottonwood
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cottonwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cottonwood
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Cottonwood
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 Cottonwood average
Your land is one point inside Cottonwood
Everything above resolves to Cottonwood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 924 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Kaufman 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 Cottonwood Average
Cottonwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Cottonwood
- ●One soil character for all of Cottonwood
- ●Frost dates read at Cottonwood's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cottonwood's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cottonwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cottonwood, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cottonwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cottonwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cottonwood average
How we know this about Cottonwood
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 Kaufman 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 Cottonwood
When does frost risk typically end in Cottonwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cottonwood typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Cottonwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cottonwood typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 280 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cottonwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cottonwood sees about 280 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 13, about 245 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cottonwood?
The federal record around Cottonwood is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (18), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.9 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 Cottonwood?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cottonwood's scale — its 8b band and its 280-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cottonwood'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 Cottonwood’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cottonwood's own scale — the 924 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cottonwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cottonwood, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cottonwood's boundary and the 924 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~280-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Cottonwood sits in the East Central Texas Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cottonwood has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Kaufman County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cottonwood's 924 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kaufman County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kaufman 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 Kaufman County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cottonwood's 924 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cottonwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 924 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.9 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 Cottonwood-wide figureread your own land →
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