Duncanville, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Duncanville, 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 Duncanville 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 Duncanville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Duncanville — the short answer
Duncanville, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 294 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~294
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Dallas County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Duncanville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Duncanville's 294-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Duncanville
Each reading below is measured for Duncanville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDuncanville runs about 294 days between hard freezes (read from Dallas County, the closest normal to Duncanville) — 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
MeasuredDuncanville 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 Duncanville is in
Duncanville sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Duncanville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dallas County.
What Grows in Duncanville
Every plant below cleared Duncanville's own zone 8b and its 294-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Duncanville?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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 Duncanville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Duncanville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- INSPECTION EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 7-ELEVEN 24039Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- MEADLINS CAR CARE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- MOBIL 1 LUBE EXPRESS STORE 699Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ALL PRO TRANSMISSIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #7043Brownfields · 2200 ft
- SMITH BROS AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- TOS-IT SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- TIMOTHY KELSMITUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- CITY OF DUNCANVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- DUNCANVILLE TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- QUALITY CABINETSToxics Release Inventory · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Duncanville'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 Duncanville.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Duncanville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Duncanville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Duncanville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Duncanville — Toxics Release Inventory (128 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (1,006 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Duncanville
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 Duncanville average
Your land is one point inside Duncanville
Everything above resolves to Duncanville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dallas 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 Duncanville Average
Duncanville Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Duncanville
- ●One soil character for all of Duncanville
- ●Frost dates read at Duncanville's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Duncanville's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Duncanville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Duncanville, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Duncanville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Duncanville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Duncanville average
How we know this about Duncanville
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 Dallas 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 Duncanville
When does frost risk typically end in Duncanville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Duncanville typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Duncanville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Duncanville typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 294 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Duncanville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Duncanville sees about 294 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 21, about 259 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Duncanville?
The federal record around Duncanville runs heavier than most — 1,481 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,006), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Duncanville?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Duncanville's scale — its 8b band and its 294-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Duncanville'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 Duncanville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Duncanville's own scale — the 7,169 acres it covers and 1,481 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Duncanville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,481 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Duncanville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Duncanville's boundary and the 7,169 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~294-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Duncanville's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Duncanville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dallas County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Duncanville's 7,169 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dallas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dallas 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 Dallas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Duncanville's 7,169 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Duncanville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,169 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 Duncanville-wide figureread your own land →
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