George West, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in George West, 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 George West 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 George West — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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George West — the short answer
George West, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 311 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 2
- Live Oak County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Live Oak County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~311
- Live Oak County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Live Oak County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is George West's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against George West's 311-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in George West
Each reading below is measured for George West itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGeorge West runs about 311 days between hard freezes (read from Live Oak County, the closest normal to George West) — 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
MeasuredGeorge West 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 George West is in
George West sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at George West's own centroid rather than borrowed from Live Oak County.
What Grows in George West
Every plant below cleared George West's own zone 9b and its 311-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in George West?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near George West
Closest first, within ~10 miles of George West. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LOWES SUPER S 106Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- BLEVINS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- HANDI STOP 1Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- VACANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CORNER STORE 0418Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- GEORGE WEST ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- THE ICE BOXUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- NEAL ONE STOP FOOD STORE 11Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- TEX BEST TRAVEL CENTER 526Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GEORGE WEST CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- GARZAS DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- SMITHS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from George West'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 George West.
Total Sites
77
within ~10 miles of George West
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of George West
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of George West
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around George West, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 66 sites within ~10 miles of George West. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 George West
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 George West average
Your land is one point inside George West
Everything above resolves to George West as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Live Oak 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 George West Average
George West Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across George West
- ●One soil character for all of George West
- ●Frost dates read at George West's scale: Feb 2 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not George West's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in George West
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in George West, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that George West averages can't show:
We read public map data around George West — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the George West average
How we know this about George West
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 Live Oak 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 George West
When does frost risk typically end in George West?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in George West typically lands around Feb 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in George West?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in George West typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 311 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in George West?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, George West sees about 311 frost-free days — roughly Feb 2 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 23 to Nov 26, about 276 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in George West?
The federal record around George West is a meaningful one — 77 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 George West?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at George West's scale — its 9b band and its 311-day season. Your yard writes its own version of George West'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 George West’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at George West's own scale — the 1,240 acres it covers and 77 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- George West's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 77 documented contamination sites on the federal record near George West, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- George West's boundary and the 1,240 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~311-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at George West's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — George West has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Live Oak County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so George West's 1,240 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Live Oak County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Live Oak 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 Live Oak County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among George West's 1,240 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of George West you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,240 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 George West-wide figureread your own land →