Franklin, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Franklin, 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 Franklin 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 Franklin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Franklin — the short answer
Franklin, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 749 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Robertson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Robertson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- Robertson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 749 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 Robertson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Franklin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Franklin's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Franklin
Each reading below is measured for Franklin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFranklin runs about 288 days between hard freezes (read from Robertson County, the closest normal to Franklin) — 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
MeasuredFranklin 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 Franklin is in
Franklin sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Franklin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Robertson County.
What Grows in Franklin
Every plant below cleared Franklin's own zone 8b and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Franklin?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Franklin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Franklin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FRANKLIN LUMBERUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- CEFCO 59Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CEFCO 60Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- KIMBROUGH CLEANERSBrownfields · 800 ft
- NAVASOTA VALLEY ELECTRIC COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- FRANKLIN FIRE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LIONS DEN EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- CALBERTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- HARPERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- GOODLAND FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- BRAZOS BARTON FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- HEARNE MUNICIPAL AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Franklin'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 Franklin.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of Franklin
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Franklin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Franklin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Franklin, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 42 sites within ~10 miles of Franklin. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Franklin
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 Franklin average
Your land is one point inside Franklin
Everything above resolves to Franklin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 749 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Robertson 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 Franklin Average
Franklin Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Franklin
- ●One soil character for all of Franklin
- ●Frost dates read at Franklin's scale: Feb 17 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Franklin's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Franklin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Franklin, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Franklin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Franklin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Franklin average
How we know this about Franklin
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 Robertson 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 Franklin
When does frost risk typically end in Franklin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Franklin typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Franklin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Franklin typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Franklin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Franklin sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 18, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Franklin?
The federal record around Franklin is light — 48 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (42), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Franklin?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Franklin's scale — its 8b band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Franklin'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 Franklin’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Franklin's own scale — the 749 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Franklin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Franklin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Franklin's boundary and the 749 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Franklin's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Franklin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Robertson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Franklin's 749 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Robertson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Robertson 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 Robertson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Franklin's 749 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Franklin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 749 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Franklin-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasFranklin sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides