Gorman, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Gorman, 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 Gorman 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 Gorman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gorman — the short answer
Gorman, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 248 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 16
- Eastland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 19
- Eastland County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~248
- Eastland 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 Eastland County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Gorman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gorman's 248-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gorman
Each reading below is measured for Gorman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGorman runs about 248 days between hard freezes (read from Eastland County, the closest normal to Gorman) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredGorman 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 Gorman is in
Gorman sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Gorman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Eastland County.
What Grows in Gorman
Every plant below cleared Gorman's own zone 8a and its 248-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gorman?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Gorman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gorman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TAYLOR PETROLEUM 83Underground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- GORMAN MILLINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- TAYLOR FOOD MART 2083Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- BOBS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BIRDSONG PEANUTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- GORMAN ASPHALT PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 2.9 mi
- NORTH RIDGE DESDEMONA PLANTBrownfields · 7.7 mi
- D & RS COUNTRY STORE & CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.0 mi
- EAGLE CONSTRUCTION & ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.Brownfields · 9.2 mi
Measured from Gorman'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 Gorman.
Total Sites
10
within ~10 miles of Gorman
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gorman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gorman
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 Gorman
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 Gorman average
Your land is one point inside Gorman
Everything above resolves to Gorman as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Eastland 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 Gorman Average
Gorman Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Gorman
- ●One soil character for all of Gorman
- ●Frost dates read at Gorman's scale: Mar 16 to Nov 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gorman's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gorman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gorman, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gorman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gorman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gorman average
How we know this about Gorman
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 Eastland 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 Gorman
When does frost risk typically end in Gorman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gorman typically lands around Mar 16, 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 Apr 6.
When is the first frost in Gorman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gorman typically arrives around Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 5, so the watching starts about Oct 20 — about 248 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gorman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gorman sees about 248 frost-free days — roughly Mar 16 through Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 6 to Nov 5, about 213 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gorman?
The federal record around Gorman is light — 10 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (6), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Gorman?
From about Oct 20 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gorman's scale — its 8a band and its 248-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gorman'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 Gorman’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gorman's own scale — the 1,052 acres it covers and 10 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gorman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 10 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gorman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gorman's boundary and the 1,052 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~248-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gorman's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gorman has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Eastland County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gorman's 1,052 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Eastland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Eastland 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 Eastland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gorman's 1,052 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gorman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,052 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 Gorman-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasGorman sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides