Gladewater, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gladewater, 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 Gladewater 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 Gladewater — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Gladewater — the short answer
Gladewater, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 279 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Gregg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Gregg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~279
- Gregg County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Gregg County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Gladewater's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gladewater's 279-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gladewater
Each reading below is measured for Gladewater itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGladewater runs about 279 days between hard freezes (read from Gregg County, the closest normal to Gladewater) — 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
MeasuredGladewater 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 Gladewater is in
Gladewater sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Gladewater's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gregg County.
What Grows in Gladewater
Every plant below cleared Gladewater's own zone 8b and its 279-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gladewater?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Gladewater
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gladewater. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AMERICAN PRIDE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- GLADE PIPEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #3140Brownfields · 1400 ft
- SUPER SAVE 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- EZ MART 4327Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- GLADEWATER CORNER MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- I 20 TIRE SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- JACK L PHILLIPSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- MIKES MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- LENS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- 100 W UPSHUR AVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- GLADEWATER CORNER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gladewater'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 Gladewater.
Total Sites
388
within ~10 miles of Gladewater
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gladewater
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gladewater
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gladewater, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Gladewater — Underground Storage Tanks (296 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (26 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Gladewater
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 Gladewater average
Your land is one point inside Gladewater
Everything above resolves to Gladewater as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Gregg 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 Gladewater Average
Gladewater Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Gladewater
- ●One soil character for all of Gladewater
- ●Frost dates read at Gladewater's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gladewater's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gladewater
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gladewater, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gladewater averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gladewater — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gladewater average
How we know this about Gladewater
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 Gregg 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 Gladewater
When does frost risk typically end in Gladewater?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gladewater typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Gladewater?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gladewater typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 279 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gladewater?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gladewater sees about 279 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 15, about 244 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gladewater?
The federal record around Gladewater is a meaningful one — 388 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (296), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Gladewater?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gladewater's scale — its 8b band and its 279-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gladewater'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 Gladewater’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gladewater's own scale — the 7,403 acres it covers and 388 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gladewater's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 388 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gladewater, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gladewater's boundary and the 7,403 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~279-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gladewater's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gladewater has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Gregg County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gladewater's 7,403 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gregg County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gregg 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 Gregg County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gladewater's 7,403 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gladewater you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,403 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Gladewater-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Growing region
Nearby growing guides