Goldthwaite, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Goldthwaite, 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 Goldthwaite 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 Goldthwaite — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Goldthwaite — the short answer
Goldthwaite, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 273 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Mills County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Mills County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~273
- Mills 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 Mills County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Goldthwaite's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Goldthwaite's 273-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Goldthwaite
Each reading below is measured for Goldthwaite itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGoldthwaite runs about 273 days between hard freezes (read from Mills County, the closest normal to Goldthwaite) — 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
MeasuredGoldthwaite 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 Goldthwaite is in
Goldthwaite sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Goldthwaite's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mills County.
What Grows in Goldthwaite
Every plant below cleared Goldthwaite's own zone 8b and its 273-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Goldthwaite?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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 Goldthwaite
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Goldthwaite. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MILLER CITGOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #2511Brownfields · 1300 ft
- QUICK CHECK CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- MITCHELLS CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- EASTSIDE TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MILLS COUNTY DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- A & B GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CENTRAL TEXAS TELEPHONE COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- GOLDTHWAITE ISD BUS BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- ALLENS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- OLIVERS PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Goldthwaite'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 Goldthwaite.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Goldthwaite
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Goldthwaite, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Goldthwaite. 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.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Goldthwaite
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 Goldthwaite average
Your land is one point inside Goldthwaite
Everything above resolves to Goldthwaite as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Mills 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 Goldthwaite Average
Goldthwaite Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Goldthwaite
- ●One soil character for all of Goldthwaite
- ●Frost dates read at Goldthwaite's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Goldthwaite's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Goldthwaite
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Goldthwaite, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Goldthwaite averages can't show:
We read public map data around Goldthwaite — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Goldthwaite average
How we know this about Goldthwaite
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 Mills 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 Goldthwaite
When does frost risk typically end in Goldthwaite?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Goldthwaite typically lands around Feb 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 Mar 19.
When is the first frost in Goldthwaite?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Goldthwaite typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 273 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Goldthwaite?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Goldthwaite sees about 273 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 12, about 238 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Goldthwaite?
The federal record around Goldthwaite is light — 31 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (30), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Goldthwaite?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Goldthwaite's scale — its 8b band and its 273-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Goldthwaite'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 Goldthwaite’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Goldthwaite's own scale — the 1,292 acres it covers and 31 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Goldthwaite's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 31 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Goldthwaite, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Goldthwaite's boundary and the 1,292 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~273-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Goldthwaite's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Goldthwaite has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Mills County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Goldthwaite's 1,292 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mills County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mills 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 Mills County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Goldthwaite's 1,292 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Goldthwaite you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,292 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 Goldthwaite-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasGoldthwaite sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.