Gordon, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Gordon, 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 Gordon 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 Gordon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gordon — the short answer
Gordon, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 265 days between hard freezes, across 621 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Palo Pinto County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Palo Pinto County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~265
- Palo Pinto County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 621 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 Palo Pinto County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Gordon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gordon's 265-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gordon
Each reading below is measured for Gordon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGordon runs about 265 days between hard freezes (read from Palo Pinto County, the closest normal to Gordon) — 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
MeasuredGordon 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 Gordon is in
Gordon sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Gordon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Palo Pinto County.
What Grows in Gordon
Every plant below cleared Gordon's own zone 8a and its 265-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gordon?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — 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 Gordon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gordon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MAINTENANCE SECTION 06Brownfields · 850 ft
- GORDON SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- E-Z SERVE 100615Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SO-LO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- GORDON ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- BAR-B TRAVEL PLAZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- MINGUS QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- GORDON EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- TROLLEY 373Underground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- CITY OF STRAWN CITY BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- GREYHOUND PAC A SACBrownfields · 7.6 mi
- GREYHOUND PAC A SACUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gordon'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 Gordon.
Total Sites
21
within ~10 miles of Gordon
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gordon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gordon
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Gordon
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 Gordon average
Your land is one point inside Gordon
Everything above resolves to Gordon as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 621 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Palo Pinto 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 Gordon Average
Gordon Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Gordon
- ●One soil character for all of Gordon
- ●Frost dates read at Gordon's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gordon's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gordon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gordon, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gordon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gordon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gordon average
How we know this about Gordon
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 Palo Pinto 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 Gordon
When does frost risk typically end in Gordon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gordon typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Gordon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gordon typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 265 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gordon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gordon sees about 265 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 9, about 230 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gordon?
The federal record around Gordon is light — 21 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (18), the nearest Brownfields 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 Gordon?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gordon's scale — its 8a band and its 265-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gordon'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 Gordon’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gordon's own scale — the 621 acres it covers and 21 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gordon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 21 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gordon, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gordon's boundary and the 621 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~265-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gordon's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gordon has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Palo Pinto County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gordon's 621 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Palo Pinto County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gordon's 621 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gordon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 621 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Gordon-wide figureread your own land →
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