Limestone County, in Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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.
Limestone County lies within the Blackland Prairie — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Limestone County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Limestone 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 Limestone County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Limestone County — the short answer
Limestone County, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 579K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 579K 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 Limestone County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Limestone County's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Limestone County
Across a year, Limestone County accumulates about 6,212 growing degree days above 50°F, about 388 more than the middle Texas county — ahead of 170 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 798 hours below 45°F, 297 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 Limestone County
Across Limestone County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Crockett, Edge, and Wilson are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.5–7.0, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
19%
Hydric soils
2%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Limestone County
The USDA soil survey maps 59% of Limestone County as moderately well drained — but another 39% drains differently: 38% well drained, 1% somewhat poorly drained.
Crockett is the most extensive named soil at 15% of mapped acres, then Edge (9%) and Wilson (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 Limestone County
Each reading below is measured for Limestone 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 Limestone County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group D — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Limestone County runs about pH 6.5–7.0, 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
MeasuredLimestone County runs about 289 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
MeasuredLimestone 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 Limestone County is in
Limestone County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Texas Blackland Prairies (65%) and East Central Texas Plains (35%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Limestone County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Limestone County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 289-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 Limestone County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Limestone County
USGS estimates 41,772 lb of Glyphosate on Limestone County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (33,885 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (9,191 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 Limestone County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Limestone County — 173 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
There's a meaningful federal record across Limestone 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 Limestone County
Closest first, across Limestone County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HANCOCK SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- TEXAS DEPT OF PUBLIC SAFETYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- JESSE LEE ROSSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- OLD SPRINGFIELD ROUND HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GAFFORDS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- AMOCO PIPELINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CLOSED STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- KIRK RSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- DOYLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- LIMESTONE ELECTRIC GENERATING STUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- JOES NEASON CONTRACTINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ONEALS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Limestone 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 Limestone County.
Total Sites
173
across Limestone County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Limestone County
Severity Distribution
across Limestone County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Limestone County, two things run higher than the national average across Limestone County — PFAS (3 sites) and Nitrate (54 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Limestone 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 Limestone County average
Your land is one point inside Limestone County
Everything above resolves to Limestone County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 579K 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 Limestone County Average
Limestone County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Limestone County
- ●One soil character for all of Limestone County
- ●Frost dates read at Limestone County's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Limestone County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Limestone County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Limestone County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Limestone County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Limestone County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Limestone County average
How we know this about Limestone 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 Limestone County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Limestone County
When does frost risk typically end in Limestone County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Limestone County typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
How long is the growing season in Limestone County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Limestone County sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 18, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Limestone County?
The federal record around Limestone County is a meaningful one — 173 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (94), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Limestone County's scale — its 8b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Limestone 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 Limestone County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Limestone County's own scale — its own ~289-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 173 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Limestone County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Limestone County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~289-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Limestone CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 173 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Limestone County's boundary and the 579,475 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Limestone County spans, Texas Blackland Prairies the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Limestone 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 Limestone County — the ~289 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 Limestone County's 579,475 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 173 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 Limestone Countyread your own land →