Glen Rose, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Glen Rose, 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 Glen Rose 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 Glen Rose — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Glen Rose — the short answer
Glen Rose, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 263 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- Somervell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Somervell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~263
- Somervell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Somervell County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Glen Rose's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Glen Rose's 263-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Glen Rose
Each reading below is measured for Glen Rose itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGlen Rose runs about 263 days between hard freezes (read from Somervell County, the closest normal to Glen Rose) — 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
MeasuredGlen Rose sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Glen Rose is in
Glen Rose sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Glen Rose's own centroid rather than borrowed from Somervell County.
What Grows in Glen Rose
Every plant below cleared Glen Rose's own zone 8a and its 263-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Glen Rose?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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 Glen Rose
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Glen Rose. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WHITWORTH ENTERPRISESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- TIGER CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- LUCKY TRAVEL 12Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GRAND CENTRAL STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- LUCKY TRAVEL 11Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- EZ MART 4279Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GLEN ROSE ISD BUS BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- GLEN ROSE MEDICAL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- SANGUINET PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- DISCOUNT BEER & CIGARETTE 2Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- RED BARN GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- FIRST BAPTIST CHURCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Glen Rose'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 Glen Rose.
Total Sites
52
within ~10 miles of Glen Rose
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Glen Rose
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Glen Rose
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Glen Rose, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 43 sites within ~10 miles of Glen Rose. 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 Glen Rose
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 Glen Rose average
Your land is one point inside Glen Rose
Everything above resolves to Glen Rose as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Somervell 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 Glen Rose Average
Glen Rose Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Glen Rose
- ●One soil character for all of Glen Rose
- ●Frost dates read at Glen Rose's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Glen Rose's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Glen Rose
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Glen Rose, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Glen Rose averages can't show:
We read public map data around Glen Rose — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Glen Rose average
How we know this about Glen Rose
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 Somervell 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 Glen Rose
When does frost risk typically end in Glen Rose?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Glen Rose typically lands around Mar 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Glen Rose?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Glen Rose typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 263 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Glen Rose?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Glen Rose sees about 263 frost-free days — roughly Mar 6 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 27 to Nov 10, about 228 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Glen Rose?
The federal record around Glen Rose shows 52 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (43), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Glen Rose?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Glen Rose's scale — its 8a band and its 263-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Glen Rose'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 Glen Rose’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Glen Rose's own scale — the 2,561 acres it covers and 52 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Glen Rose's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 52 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Glen Rose, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Glen Rose's boundary and the 2,561 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~263-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Glen Rose's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Glen Rose has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Somervell County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Glen Rose's 2,561 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Somervell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Somervell 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 Somervell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Glen Rose's 2,561 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Glen Rose you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,561 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Glen Rose-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasGlen Rose sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides