Panola 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Panola County lies within the Piney Woods — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Panola County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Panola 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 Panola County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Panola County — the short answer
Panola County, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 280 days between hard freezes, across 519K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~280
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 519K 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 Panola County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Panola County's 280-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Panola County
Across a year, Panola County accumulates about 5,817 growing degree days above 50°F, about 7 fewer than the middle Texas county — ahead of 125 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 967 hours below 45°F, 128 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 Panola County
Across Panola County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Eastwood, Scottsville, and Latex are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a very fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.3, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
9%
Hydric soils
24%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Panola County
The USDA soil survey maps 36% of Panola County as moderately well drained — but another 63% drains differently: 34% well drained, 19% somewhat poorly drained.
Eastwood is the most extensive named soil at 26% of mapped acres, then Scottsville (20%) and Latex (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 Panola County
Each reading below is measured for Panola 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 Panola 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 Panola County runs about pH 5.3, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 24% of Panola County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredPanola County runs about 280 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
The kind of country Panola County is in
Panola County sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Panola County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Panola County's own USDA zone 8b and its own 280-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 Panola County?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
Documented around Panola County
- monarch butterfly3 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Panola County
USGS estimates 6,924 lb of 2,4-d on Panola County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Glyphosate (2,567 lb) and Dicamba (2,312 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 Panola County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Panola County — 187 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 15 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Panola County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Panola County
Closest first, across Panola County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- C L REAVIS ESTATE GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- BROOKS WELL SERVICINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- JAYS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- LARRY MORRES GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CARTHAGE TOOLHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- BO GRAY CASINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FORMER HALLS TRUCK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FAIRPLAY GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- MIKE STEPHENSON CONSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- DOCK GRIFFIN FEED AND FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- EDS GROCERY & STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Panola 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 Panola County.
Total Sites
187
across Panola County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
15 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Panola County
Severity Distribution
across Panola County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Panola County, two things run higher than the national average across Panola County — Toxics Release Inventory (15 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (129 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 Panola 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 Panola County average
Your land is one point inside Panola County
Everything above resolves to Panola County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 519K 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 Panola County Average
Panola County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Panola County
- ●One soil character for all of Panola County
- ●Frost dates read at Panola County's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Panola County's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Panola County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Panola County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Panola County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Panola County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Panola County average
How we know this about Panola 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 Panola County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Panola County
When does frost risk typically end in Panola County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Panola County typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
How long is the growing season in Panola County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Panola County sees about 280 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 15, about 245 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Panola County?
The federal record around Panola County shows 187 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (129), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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.
Everything above is measured at Panola County's scale — its 8b band and its 280-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Panola 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 Panola County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Panola County's own scale — its own ~280-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 187 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Panola County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Panola County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~280-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Panola CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 187 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Panola County's boundary and the 519,267 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~280-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Panola County sitting wholly inside the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Panola County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Panola 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 Panola County — the ~280 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 Panola County's 519,267 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 187 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 Panola Countyread your own land →