Edom, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Edom, 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 Edom 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 Edom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Edom — the short answer
Edom, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 19
- Van Zandt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Van Zandt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~284
- Van Zandt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Van Zandt County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Edom's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Edom's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Edom
Each reading below is measured for Edom itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEdom runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Van Zandt County, the closest normal to Edom) — 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
MeasuredEdom 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 Edom is in
Edom sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Edom's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Van Zandt County is mostly East Central Texas Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Edom
Every plant below cleared Edom's own zone 8b and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Edom?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 19 (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. 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 Edom
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Edom. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- YS-34-44-101Nitrate · 950 ft
- LIBERTY CROSSING 3Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- YS-34-36-501Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- YS-34-43-201Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- YS-34-36-901Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- KIDD JONES BROWNSBOROUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- GATEWAY 54Underground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- YS-34-35-601Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- ASHLEY SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- YS-34-35-602Nitrate · 5.9 mi
- YS-34-35-301Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- HENDERSON COUNTY PRECINCT 3Underground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Edom'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 Edom.
Total Sites
44
within ~10 miles of Edom
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Edom
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Edom
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Edom, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 16 sites within ~10 miles of Edom. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Edom
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 Edom average
Your land is one point inside Edom
Everything above resolves to Edom as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Van Zandt 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 Edom Average
Edom Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Edom
- ●One soil character for all of Edom
- ●Frost dates read at Edom's scale: Feb 19 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Edom's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Edom
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Edom, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Edom averages can't show:
We read public map data around Edom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Edom average
How we know this about Edom
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 Van Zandt 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 Edom
When does frost risk typically end in Edom?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Edom typically lands around Feb 19, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Edom?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Edom 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 284 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Edom?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Edom sees about 284 frost-free days — roughly Feb 19 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 12 to Nov 16, about 249 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Edom?
The federal record around Edom is light — 44 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (22), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Edom?
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 Edom's scale — its 8b band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Edom'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 Edom’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Edom's own scale — the 1,605 acres it covers and 44 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Edom's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 44 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Edom, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Edom's boundary and the 1,605 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Edom sits in the South Central Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Edom has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Van Zandt County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Edom's 1,605 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Van Zandt County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Van Zandt 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 Van Zandt County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Edom's 1,605 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Edom you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,605 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Edom-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasEdom sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides