Cross Roads, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Cross Roads, 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 Cross Roads 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 Cross Roads — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cross Roads — the short answer
Cross Roads, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 279 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Denton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Denton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~279
- Denton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Denton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Cross Roads's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cross Roads's 279-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cross Roads
Each reading below is measured for Cross Roads itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCross Roads runs about 279 days between hard freezes (read from Denton County, the closest normal to Cross Roads) — 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
MeasuredCross Roads 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 Cross Roads is in
Cross Roads sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Cross Roads's own centroid rather than borrowed from Denton County.
What Grows in Cross Roads
Every plant below cleared Cross Roads's own zone 8b and its 279-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cross Roads?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Cross Roads
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cross Roads. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALMART SUPERCENTER 5707Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- WILLIES PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER 5707Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- US 380 TRAVEL CENTER CK 119Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 35856Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 37326Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- CORNER STORE 1876Underground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #11133Brownfields · 2.6 mi
- AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENTBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- BCS SWITCHGEARBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- SHELL 3521Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- REDI MIX LITTLE ELM PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cross Roads'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 Cross Roads.
Total Sites
459
within ~10 miles of Cross Roads
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cross Roads
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cross Roads
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cross Roads, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Cross Roads — PFAS (9 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (357 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Cross Roads
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 Cross Roads average
Your land is one point inside Cross Roads
Everything above resolves to Cross Roads as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Denton 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 Cross Roads Average
Cross Roads Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Cross Roads
- ●One soil character for all of Cross Roads
- ●Frost dates read at Cross Roads's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cross Roads's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cross Roads
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cross Roads, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cross Roads averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cross Roads — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cross Roads average
How we know this about Cross Roads
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 Denton 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 Cross Roads
When does frost risk typically end in Cross Roads?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cross Roads typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Cross Roads?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cross Roads typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 279 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cross Roads?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cross Roads sees about 279 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 15, about 244 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cross Roads?
The federal record around Cross Roads is a meaningful one — 459 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (357), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.6 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Cross Roads?
From about Oct 30 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 Nov 29 (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 Nov 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cross Roads's scale — its 8b band and its 279-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cross Roads'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 Cross Roads’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cross Roads's own scale — the 4,321 acres it covers and 459 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cross Roads's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 459 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cross Roads, the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cross Roads's boundary and the 4,321 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~279-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cross Roads's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cross Roads has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Denton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cross Roads's 4,321 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Denton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Denton 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 Denton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cross Roads's 4,321 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cross Roads you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,321 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 Cross Roads-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasCross Roads sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides