Heath, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Heath, 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 Heath 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 Heath — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Heath — the short answer
Heath, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 285 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Rockwall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Rockwall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~285
- Rockwall County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Rockwall County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Heath's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Heath's 285-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Heath
Each reading below is measured for Heath itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHeath runs about 285 days between hard freezes (read from Rockwall County, the closest normal to Heath) — 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
MeasuredHeath 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 Heath is in
Heath sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Heath's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rockwall County.
What Grows in Heath
Every plant below cleared Heath's own zone 8b and its 285-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Heath?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Heath
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Heath. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOM THUMB 3099Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- HEATH MARKET PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BRADYS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- CHANDLERS LANDING MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- CITY OF HEATHPFAS · 1.9 mi
- 7-ELEVEN 34353Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- GETC INCBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- KROGER FUEL CENTER 575Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- NATIONAL TIRE & BATTERY #8808Brownfields · 2.5 mi
- KROGER #575-35Brownfields · 2.5 mi
- KROGER FUEL CENTER 475Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- LOWES OF ROCKWALL 610Brownfields · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Heath'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 Heath.
Total Sites
460
within ~10 miles of Heath
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Heath
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Heath
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Heath, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Heath — PFAS (9 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (313 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Heath
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 Heath average
Your land is one point inside Heath
Everything above resolves to Heath as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Rockwall 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 Heath Average
Heath Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Heath
- ●One soil character for all of Heath
- ●Frost dates read at Heath's scale: Feb 17 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Heath's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Heath
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Heath, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Heath averages can't show:
We read public map data around Heath — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Heath average
How we know this about Heath
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 Rockwall 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 Heath
When does frost risk typically end in Heath?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Heath typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Heath?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Heath typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 285 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Heath?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Heath sees about 285 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 15, about 250 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Heath?
The federal record around Heath is a meaningful one — 460 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (313), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.9 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 Heath?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Heath's scale — its 8b band and its 285-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Heath'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 Heath’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Heath's own scale — the 7,910 acres it covers and 460 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Heath's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 460 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Heath, the closest Brownfields record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Heath's boundary and the 7,910 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~285-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Heath's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Heath has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Rockwall County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Heath's 7,910 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rockwall County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rockwall 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 Rockwall County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Heath's 7,910 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Heath you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,910 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.9 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 Heath-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Growing region
Nearby growing guides