Gilmer, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gilmer, 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 Gilmer 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 Gilmer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gilmer — the short answer
Gilmer, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 24
- Upshur County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Upshur County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Upshur 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 Upshur County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Gilmer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gilmer's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gilmer
Each reading below is measured for Gilmer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGilmer runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Upshur County, the closest normal to Gilmer) — 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
MeasuredGilmer 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 Gilmer is in
Gilmer sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Gilmer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Upshur County.
What Grows in Gilmer
Every plant below cleared Gilmer's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gilmer?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Gilmer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gilmer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FLOYD ORENNANUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- ALLEN H EUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- TXI GILMER READY MIX 267Toxics Release Inventory · 950 ft
- TIRE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- TRANSIT MIX CONCRETE 1267Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- LAMBERTS GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- GILMER LUMBERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- RB COOK & COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- THE QUICKIE MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- YOUNG OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ECONOMY AUTO SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- HANDY MAN GROCERY & STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gilmer'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 Gilmer.
Total Sites
145
within ~10 miles of Gilmer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gilmer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gilmer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gilmer, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 114 sites within ~10 miles of Gilmer. 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 Gilmer
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 Gilmer average
Your land is one point inside Gilmer
Everything above resolves to Gilmer as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Upshur 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 Gilmer Average
Gilmer Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Gilmer
- ●One soil character for all of Gilmer
- ●Frost dates read at Gilmer's scale: Feb 24 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gilmer's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gilmer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gilmer, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gilmer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gilmer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gilmer average
How we know this about Gilmer
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 Upshur 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 Gilmer
When does frost risk typically end in Gilmer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gilmer typically lands around Feb 24, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Gilmer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gilmer typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gilmer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gilmer sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 24 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 17 to Nov 14, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gilmer?
The federal record around Gilmer is a meaningful one — 145 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (114), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Gilmer?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gilmer's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gilmer'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 Gilmer’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gilmer's own scale — the 2,426 acres it covers and 145 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gilmer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 145 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gilmer, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gilmer's boundary and the 2,426 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gilmer's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gilmer has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Upshur County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gilmer's 2,426 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Upshur County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Upshur 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 Upshur County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gilmer's 2,426 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gilmer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,426 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 Gilmer-wide figureread your own land →
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