Palo Pinto County, in Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Palo Pinto County lies within the Cross Timbers — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Palo Pinto County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Palo Pinto County — the short answer
Palo Pinto County, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 265 days between hard freezes, across 610K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~265
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 610K 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 8a is Palo Pinto County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Palo Pinto County's 265-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Palo Pinto County
Across a year, Palo Pinto County accumulates about 5,779 growing degree days above 50°F, about 45 fewer than the middle Texas county — ahead of 118 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 1,281 hours below 45°F, 186 more 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 Palo Pinto County
Across Palo Pinto County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Palopinto, Set, and Hensley are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a very stony clay loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.8–8.0, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
19%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Palo Pinto County
The USDA soil survey maps 88% of Palo Pinto County as well drained — but another 9% drains differently: 9% moderately well drained.
Palopinto is the most extensive named soil at 13% of mapped acres, then Set (11%) and Hensley (10%).
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 Palo Pinto County
Each reading below is measured for Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — 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 Palo Pinto County runs about pH 6.8–8.0, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredPalo Pinto County runs about 265 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
MeasuredPalo Pinto County sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Palo Pinto County is in
Palo Pinto County sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Palo Pinto County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Palo Pinto County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 265-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 Palo Pinto County?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — 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.
Documented around Palo Pinto County
- monarch butterfly340 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Palo Pinto County
USGS estimates 13,386 lb of 2,4-d on Palo Pinto County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (1,862 lb) and Dicamba (1,026 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 Palo Pinto County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Palo Pinto County — 191 documented sites across 5 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 Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County
Closest first, across Palo Pinto County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STRAWN AUTO 2 80136Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- STRAWN TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SALESVILLE SHAMROCK 80079Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- DONS DRIVE IN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- JOHN STOWE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GRAFORD RADIO TXD980599435Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MARTIN OILCO FM 16Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- LAKEVIEW LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MARTIN OILCO HIGHWAY 180 W 3 MIUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MCCRACKENS GAS DOCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- PALO PINTO COUNTY PCT 2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CENTURY FLIGHT SYSTEMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County.
Total Sites
191
across Palo Pinto County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Palo Pinto County
Severity Distribution
across Palo Pinto County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Palo Pinto County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 165 sites across Palo Pinto County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County average
Your land is one point inside Palo Pinto County
Everything above resolves to Palo Pinto County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 610K 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 Palo Pinto County Average
Palo Pinto County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Palo Pinto County
- ●One soil character for all of Palo Pinto County
- ●Frost dates read at Palo Pinto County's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Palo Pinto County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Palo Pinto County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Palo Pinto County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Palo Pinto County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Palo Pinto County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Palo Pinto County average
How we know this about Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Palo Pinto County
When does frost risk typically end in Palo Pinto County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Palo Pinto County typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
How long is the growing season in Palo Pinto County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Palo Pinto County sees about 265 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 9, about 230 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Palo Pinto County?
The federal record around Palo Pinto County is a meaningful one — 191 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (165), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Palo Pinto County's scale — its 8a band and its 265-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Palo Pinto County's own scale — its own ~265-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 191 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Palo Pinto County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Palo Pinto County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~265-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Palo Pinto CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 191 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Palo Pinto County's boundary and the 609,631 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~265-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Palo Pinto County sitting wholly inside the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Palo Pinto County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County — the ~265 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 Palo Pinto County's 609,631 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 191 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 Palo Pinto Countyread your own land →