Freeport, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Freeport, 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 Freeport 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 Freeport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Freeport — the short answer
Freeport, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 26
- Brazoria County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Brazoria County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- Brazoria County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 10K 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 Brazoria County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Freeport's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Freeport's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Freeport
Each reading below is measured for Freeport itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFreeport runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from Brazoria County, the closest normal to Freeport) — 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
MeasuredFreeport sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Freeport is in
Freeport sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Freeport's own centroid rather than borrowed from Brazoria County.
What Grows in Freeport
Every plant below cleared Freeport's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Freeport?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 13 — 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 Freeport
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Freeport. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BH-81-06-403Nitrate · 2200 ft
- REO PROCESSING TEXASBrownfields · 2600 ft
- EXXON USA 64052Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- BASF FREEPORT AMMONIA TERMINALUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BRAZOS RIVER HARBOR NAVIGATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FREEPORT WELDING & FABRICATINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CARLOS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- GIROUARDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SIMMONS BUILDING SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MECHANIC SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FREEPORT DRIVE IN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FREEPORT CENTRAL OFFICE W83420Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Freeport'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 Freeport.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Freeport
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Freeport
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Freeport, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Freeport — Toxics Release Inventory (54 sites) and PFAS (4 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Freeport
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 Freeport average
Your land is one point inside Freeport
Everything above resolves to Freeport as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Brazoria 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 Freeport Average
Freeport Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Freeport
- ●One soil character for all of Freeport
- ●Frost dates read at Freeport's scale: Jan 26 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Freeport's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Freeport
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Freeport, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Freeport averages can't show:
We read public map data around Freeport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Freeport average
How we know this about Freeport
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 Brazoria 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 Freeport
When does frost risk typically end in Freeport?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Freeport typically lands around Jan 26, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Freeport?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Freeport typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Freeport?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Freeport sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Jan 26 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 16 to Nov 29, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Freeport?
The federal record around Freeport is a meaningful one — 366 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (187), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Freeport?
From about Nov 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Freeport's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Freeport'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 Freeport’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Freeport's own scale — the 9,855 acres it covers and 366 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Freeport's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 366 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Freeport, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Freeport's boundary and the 9,855 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Freeport's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Freeport has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Brazoria County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Freeport's 9,855 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Brazoria County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Brazoria 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 Brazoria County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Freeport's 9,855 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Freeport you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,855 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Freeport-wide figureread your own land →
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