Leon County, in 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.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Leon County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Leon County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Leon County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Leon County — the short answer
Leon County, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 687K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 687K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Leon County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Leon County's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Leon County
Across a year, Leon County accumulates about 6,150 growing degree days above 50°F, about 326 more than the middle Texas county — ahead of 165 of Texas’s 254 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 772 hours below 45°F, 323 fewer than the Texas middle of 1,095. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Leon County
Across Leon County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Pickton, Padina, and Hatliff are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.5–6.5, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
10%
Hydric soils
7%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Leon County
The USDA soil survey maps 59% of Leon County as well drained — but another 40% drains differently: 26% moderately well drained, 5% somewhat poorly drained.
Pickton is the most extensive named soil at 10% of mapped acres, then Padina (9%) and Hatliff (8%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Leon County
Each reading below is measured for Leon County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Leon County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Leon County runs about pH 5.5–6.5, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredLeon County runs about 282 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredLeon County 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 Leon County is in
Leon County sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Leon County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Leon County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 282-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile.
Is it too late to plant in Leon County?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Leon County
USGS estimates 9,197 lb of 2,4-d on Leon County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (6,426 lb) and Atrazine (3,884 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Leon County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Leon County — 164 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Leon County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Leon County
Closest first, across Leon County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOWNCO SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- BILLS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- RAND OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CRUTCHFIELD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- KINGS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- LEONA GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- LEON COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ROYS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SAM KNIGHT JRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ROBBINS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CEDAR RAIL RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- J&J PIPEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Leon County'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 Leon County.
Total Sites
164
across Leon County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Leon County
Severity Distribution
across Leon County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Leon County, two things run higher than the national average across Leon County — Toxics Release Inventory (14 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (101 sites). 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Leon County
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 Leon County average
Your land is one point inside Leon County
Everything above resolves to Leon County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 687K acres. 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Leon County Average
Leon County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Leon County
- ●One soil character for all of Leon County
- ●Frost dates read at Leon County's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Leon County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Leon County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Leon County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Leon County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Leon County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Leon County average
How we know this about Leon County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Leon County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Leon County
When does frost risk typically end in Leon County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Leon County typically lands around Feb 21, 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 14.
How long is the growing season in Leon County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Leon County sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 16, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Leon County?
The federal record around Leon County is a meaningful one — 164 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (101), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles 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.
Everything above is measured at Leon County's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Leon County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Texas's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Leon County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Leon County's own scale — its own ~282-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 164 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Leon County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Leon County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~282-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Leon CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 164 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Leon County's boundary and the 686,819 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Leon County sitting wholly inside the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Leon County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Leon County — the ~282 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Leon County's 686,819 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 164 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Leon Countyread your own land →