Denton, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Denton, 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 Denton 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 Denton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Denton — the short answer
Denton, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 279 days between hard freezes, across 62K acres of city.
- 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
- City area
- 62K 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 Denton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Denton's 279-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Denton
Each reading below is measured for Denton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDenton runs about 279 days between hard freezes (read from Denton County, the closest normal to Denton) — 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
MeasuredDenton 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 Denton is in
Denton sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Denton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Denton County.
What Grows in Denton
Every plant below cleared Denton'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 Denton?
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 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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Denton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Denton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JOE NORMILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- PARK & GO GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- MIDWAY MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- SCHMITZ FLOYD HAMLETT FUNERALUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- DENTON MAIN CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CENTRAL FIRE STATION DENTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- 7-ELEVEN 21495Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- DENTON ISD ANNEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- CAROL IVEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #10271Brownfields · 2500 ft
- HOWDY DOODY GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- LOCUST & MCKINNEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Denton'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 Denton.
Total Sites
467
within ~10 miles of Denton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Denton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Denton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Denton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Denton — PFAS (8 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (357 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Denton
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 Denton average
Your land is one point inside Denton
Everything above resolves to Denton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 62K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Denton County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Denton Average
Denton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Denton
- ●One soil character for all of Denton
- ●Frost dates read at Denton's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Denton's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Denton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Denton, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Denton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Denton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Denton average
How we know this about Denton
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Denton
When does frost risk typically end in Denton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Denton 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 Denton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Denton 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 Denton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Denton 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 Denton?
The federal record around Denton is a meaningful one — 467 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (357), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Denton?
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 Denton's scale — its 8b band and its 279-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Denton'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 Denton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Denton's own scale — the 62,047 acres it covers and 467 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Denton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 467 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Denton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Denton's boundary and the 62,047 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 Denton's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Denton 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 Denton's 62,047 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 Denton's 62,047 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Denton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 62,047 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Denton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasDenton sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides