Crosby, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Crosby, 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 Crosby 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 Crosby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Crosby — the short answer
Crosby, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 323 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 28
- Harris County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 17
- Harris County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~323
- Harris County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Harris County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Crosby's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Crosby's 323-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Crosby
Each reading below is measured for Crosby itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCrosby runs about 323 days between hard freezes (read from Harris County, the closest normal to Crosby) — 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
MeasuredCrosby sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Crosby is in
Crosby sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Crosby's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harris County.
What Grows in Crosby
Every plant below cleared Crosby's own zone 9b and its 323-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Crosby?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 17 — 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 Crosby
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Crosby. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PBI INTERNATIONALBrownfields · 1700 ft
- KMCO, INC.Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- ALTIVIA OXIDE CHEMICALS, LLCToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- RE-CAL SERVICES CROSBY FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- CROSBY CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- KMCO CROSBY PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SNAPPY MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ZARSKY PROPERTYSuperfund · 0.6 mi
- HENKEL CORPToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- CROSBY STOP N DRIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HANDI STOP 98Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ALL STAR THREADINGBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Crosby'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 Crosby.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Crosby
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Crosby
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Crosby, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Crosby — PFAS (27 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (69 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Crosby
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 Crosby average
Your land is one point inside Crosby
Everything above resolves to Crosby as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Harris County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Crosby Average
Crosby Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Crosby
- ●One soil character for all of Crosby
- ●Frost dates read at Crosby's scale: Jan 28 to Dec 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Crosby's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Crosby
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Crosby, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Crosby averages can't show:
We read public map data around Crosby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Crosby average
How we know this about Crosby
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Harris 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Crosby
When does frost risk typically end in Crosby?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Crosby typically lands around Jan 28, 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 Feb 18.
When is the first frost in Crosby?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Crosby typically arrives around Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 3, so the watching starts about Nov 17 — about 323 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Crosby?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Crosby sees about 323 frost-free days — roughly Jan 28 through Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 18 to Dec 3, about 288 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Crosby?
The federal record around Crosby runs heavier than most — 546 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (248), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Crosby?
From about Nov 17 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 Dec 17 (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 Dec 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Crosby's scale — its 9b band and its 323-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Crosby'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 Crosby’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Crosby's own scale — the 1,425 acres it covers and 546 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Crosby's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 546 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Crosby, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Crosby's boundary and the 1,425 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~323-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Crosby's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Crosby has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Harris County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Crosby's 1,425 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harris County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harris 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 Harris County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Crosby's 1,425 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Crosby you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,425 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Crosby-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasCrosby sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides