Hico, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hico, 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 Hico 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 Hico — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hico — the short answer
Hico, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Hamilton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Hamilton 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 Hamilton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Hico's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hico's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hico
Each reading below is measured for Hico itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHico runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Hamilton County, the closest normal to Hico) — 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
MeasuredHico 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 Hico is in
Hico sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hico's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hamilton County.
What Grows in Hico
Every plant below cleared Hico's own zone 8a and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hico?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (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. 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 Hico
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hico. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STEPHENS COUNTRY CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- RANGLERS CONVENIENCE STORES 8Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- FASTIME HICOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- JACKSON AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- SCOTTY MINT GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- BROUMLEY DAIRYCAFO · 1.9 mi
- OKEE DAIRYCAFO · 7.3 mi
- TOMMYS 39Underground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- BROKEN O CATTLECAFO · 8.0 mi
- HORIZON DAIRYCAFO · 8.0 mi
- BROUMLEY HEIFERSCAFO · 8.9 mi
- SOUTHWESTERN OTX REAL ESTATE SITECAFO · 8.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hico'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 Hico.
Total Sites
20
within ~10 miles of Hico
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
13 concentrated animal feeding operations
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hico
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Hico
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 Hico average
Your land is one point inside Hico
Everything above resolves to Hico as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hamilton 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 Hico Average
Hico Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Hico
- ●One soil character for all of Hico
- ●Frost dates read at Hico's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hico's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hico
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hico, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hico averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hico — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hico average
How we know this about Hico
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 Hamilton 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 Hico
When does frost risk typically end in Hico?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hico typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Hico?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hico 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 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hico?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hico sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 12, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hico?
The federal record around Hico is light — 20 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly CAFO entries (13), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Hico?
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 Hico's scale — its 8a band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hico'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 Hico’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hico's own scale — the 1,167 acres it covers and 20 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hico's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 20 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hico, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hico's boundary and the 1,167 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hico's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hico has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hamilton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hico's 1,167 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hamilton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hamilton 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 Hamilton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hico's 1,167 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hico you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,167 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Hico-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasHico sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides