Forest Heights, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — 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: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Forest Heights, 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 Forest Heights 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 Forest Heights — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Forest Heights — the short answer
Forest Heights, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 312 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 30
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~312
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Orange County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Forest Heights's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Forest Heights's 312-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Forest Heights
Each reading below is measured for Forest Heights itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsForest Heights runs about 312 days between hard freezes (read from Orange County, the closest normal to Forest Heights) — 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
MeasuredForest Heights sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Forest Heights is in
Forest Heights sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Forest Heights's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Orange County is mostly Western Gulf Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Forest Heights
Every plant below cleared Forest Heights's own zone 9a and its 312-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Forest Heights?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — 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 Forest Heights
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Forest Heights. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SAMMYS STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SABINE RIVER AUTHORITY OF TEXASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TZ-62-42-907Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- UJ-62-51-102Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- INLAND PAPERBOARD AND PACKAGINGBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- TZ-62-42-905Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- COTTONWOOD ENERGY PROJECTBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- INTERNATIONAL PAPER - LANDFILLToxics Release Inventory · 2.4 mi
- DOLLAR PLUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- TETLP - M&R 73298 COTTONWOODBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- UJ-62-51-401Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- UJ-62-51-101Nitrate · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Forest Heights'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 Forest Heights.
Total Sites
293
within ~10 miles of Forest Heights
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Forest Heights
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Forest Heights
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Forest Heights
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 Forest Heights average
Your land is one point inside Forest Heights
Everything above resolves to Forest Heights as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Orange 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 Forest Heights Average
Forest Heights Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Forest Heights
- ●One soil character for all of Forest Heights
- ●Frost dates read at Forest Heights's scale: Jan 30 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Forest Heights's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Forest Heights
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Forest Heights, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Forest Heights averages can't show:
We read public map data around Forest Heights — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Forest Heights average
How we know this about Forest Heights
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 Orange 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 Forest Heights
When does frost risk typically end in Forest Heights?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Forest Heights typically lands around Jan 30, 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 Feb 20.
When is the first frost in Forest Heights?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Forest Heights typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 312 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Forest Heights?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Forest Heights sees about 312 frost-free days — roughly Jan 30 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 20 to Nov 24, about 277 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Forest Heights?
The federal record around Forest Heights is a meaningful one — 293 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (140), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Forest Heights?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Forest Heights's scale — its 9a band and its 312-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Forest Heights'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 Forest Heights’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Forest Heights's own scale — the 1,804 acres it covers and 293 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Forest Heights's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 293 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Forest Heights, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Forest Heights's boundary and the 1,804 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~312-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Forest Heights 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 — Forest Heights has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Orange County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Forest Heights's 1,804 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Orange County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Orange 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 Orange County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Forest Heights's 1,804 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Forest Heights you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,804 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Forest Heights-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasForest Heights sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides