Cross Timber, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cross Timber, 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 Timber 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 Timber — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cross Timber — the short answer
Cross Timber, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 283 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Johnson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Johnson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~283
- Johnson 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 Johnson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Cross Timber's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cross Timber's 283-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cross Timber
Each reading below is measured for Cross Timber itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCross Timber runs about 283 days between hard freezes (read from Johnson County, the closest normal to Cross Timber) — 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 Timber 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 Timber is in
Cross Timber sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Cross Timber's own centroid rather than borrowed from Johnson County.
What Grows in Cross Timber
Every plant below cleared Cross Timber's own zone 8b and its 283-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cross Timber?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Cross Timber
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cross Timber. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BILL RICE AUTO REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- KWS MANUFACTURINGBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- UNION HILL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- MCLANE CLASSIC FOODSToxics Release Inventory · 2.4 mi
- EGAN FAST STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- MUFFLER & RADIATIOR REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- C A R TRANSPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- NEW GRAND INTERNATIONALBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- ADAM QUICKWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- MIDWEST PIPE & SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- QUIKTRIP 958Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- INDUSTRIAL FABRICATORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cross Timber'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 Timber.
Total Sites
455
within ~10 miles of Cross Timber
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cross Timber
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cross Timber
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cross Timber, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Cross Timber — PFAS (9 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (50 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.
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 Cross Timber
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 Timber average
Your land is one point inside Cross Timber
Everything above resolves to Cross Timber as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Johnson 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 Timber Average
Cross Timber Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Cross Timber
- ●One soil character for all of Cross Timber
- ●Frost dates read at Cross Timber's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cross Timber's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cross Timber
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cross Timber, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cross Timber averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cross Timber — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cross Timber average
How we know this about Cross Timber
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 Johnson 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 Timber
When does frost risk typically end in Cross Timber?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cross Timber typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Cross Timber?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cross Timber typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 283 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cross Timber?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cross Timber sees about 283 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 16, about 248 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cross Timber?
The federal record around Cross Timber is a meaningful one — 455 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (327), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Timber?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cross Timber's scale — its 8b band and its 283-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cross Timber'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 Timber’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cross Timber's own scale — the 1,040 acres it covers and 455 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cross Timber's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 455 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cross Timber, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cross Timber's boundary and the 1,040 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~283-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cross Timber's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cross Timber has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Johnson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cross Timber's 1,040 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Johnson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Johnson 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 Johnson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cross Timber's 1,040 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cross Timber you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,040 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Timber-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasCross Timber sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.