Hamshire, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hamshire, 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 Hamshire 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 Hamshire — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hamshire — the short answer
Hamshire, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 315 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 29
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~315
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Jefferson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Hamshire's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hamshire's 315-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hamshire
Each reading below is measured for Hamshire itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHamshire runs about 315 days between hard freezes (read from Jefferson County, the closest normal to Hamshire) — 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
MeasuredHamshire sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Hamshire is in
Hamshire sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hamshire's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Hamshire
Every plant below cleared Hamshire's own zone 9b and its 315-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hamshire?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Hamshire
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hamshire. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HAMSHIRE-FANNETT ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- PT-64-14-209Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- PTB TRANSPORTATION INCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- LONGHORN DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- LONE STAR SUPERETTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- COWBOY TRUCK STOP PFI 17Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- HAMSHIRE ETHANOL TANKER SPILLSuperfund · 1.7 mi
- GULFLANDS TRANSPORTBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- MERISOL USA LLCBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- MERISOL USA LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1.9 mi
- SASOL CHEMICALS (USA) LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1.9 mi
- JEFFERSON GAS PROCESSINGBrownfields · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hamshire'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 Hamshire.
Total Sites
194
within ~10 miles of Hamshire
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hamshire
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hamshire
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hamshire, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hamshire — PFAS (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (136 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Hamshire
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 Hamshire average
Your land is one point inside Hamshire
Everything above resolves to Hamshire as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jefferson County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Hamshire Average
Hamshire Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Hamshire
- ●One soil character for all of Hamshire
- ●Frost dates read at Hamshire's scale: Jan 29 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hamshire's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hamshire
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hamshire, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hamshire averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hamshire — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hamshire average
How we know this about Hamshire
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Jefferson 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Hamshire
When does frost risk typically end in Hamshire?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hamshire typically lands around Jan 29, 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 Feb 19.
When is the first frost in Hamshire?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hamshire typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 315 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hamshire?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hamshire sees about 315 frost-free days — roughly Jan 29 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 19 to Nov 26, about 280 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hamshire?
The federal record around Hamshire is a meaningful one — 194 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (136), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Hamshire?
From about Nov 10 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 Dec 10 (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 Dec 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hamshire's scale — its 9b band and its 315-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hamshire'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 Hamshire’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hamshire's own scale — the 1,904 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hamshire's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hamshire, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hamshire's boundary and the 1,904 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~315-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hamshire's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hamshire has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jefferson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hamshire's 1,904 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hamshire's 1,904 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hamshire you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,904 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Hamshire-wide figureread your own land →
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