Highland Haven, 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.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Highland Haven, 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 Highland Haven 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 Highland Haven — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Highland Haven — the short answer
Highland Haven, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 281 days between hard freezes, across 282 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Burnet County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Burnet County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~281
- Burnet County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 282 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 Burnet County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Highland Haven's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Highland Haven's 281-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Highland Haven
Each reading below is measured for Highland Haven itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHighland Haven runs about 281 days between hard freezes (read from Burnet County, the closest normal to Highland Haven) — 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
MeasuredHighland Haven 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 Highland Haven is in
Highland Haven sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Highland Haven's own centroid rather than borrowed from Burnet County.
What Grows in Highland Haven
Every plant below cleared Highland Haven's own zone 8b and its 281-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Highland Haven?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — 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 Highland Haven
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Highland Haven. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PHILS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- R C MUELLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- ROBERT BRITTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- BUCKS FOOD AND FUEL 9Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- T-MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- CORNER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- BROGAN ENTERPRISESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- JAMES R BOIES TRUSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- JET STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- ROCKY TOP FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- SANDYLAND RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- CRACKER BARRELUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Highland Haven'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 Highland Haven.
Total Sites
99
within ~10 miles of Highland Haven
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Highland Haven
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Highland Haven
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Highland Haven, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Highland Haven — Underground Storage Tanks (74 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Highland Haven
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 Highland Haven average
Your land is one point inside Highland Haven
Everything above resolves to Highland Haven as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 282 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Burnet 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 Highland Haven Average
Highland Haven Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Highland Haven
- ●One soil character for all of Highland Haven
- ●Frost dates read at Highland Haven's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Highland Haven's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Highland Haven
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Highland Haven, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Highland Haven averages can't show:
We read public map data around Highland Haven — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Highland Haven average
How we know this about Highland Haven
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 Burnet 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 Highland Haven
When does frost risk typically end in Highland Haven?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Highland Haven typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Highland Haven?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Highland Haven typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 281 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Highland Haven?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Highland Haven sees about 281 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 14, about 246 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Highland Haven?
The federal record around Highland Haven shows 99 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (74), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Highland Haven?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Highland Haven's scale — its 8b band and its 281-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Highland Haven'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 Highland Haven’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Highland Haven's own scale — the 282 acres it covers and 99 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Highland Haven's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 99 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Highland Haven, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Highland Haven's boundary and the 282 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~281-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Highland Haven's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Highland Haven has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Burnet County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Highland Haven's 282 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Burnet County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Burnet 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 Burnet County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Highland Haven's 282 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Highland Haven you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 282 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Highland Haven-wide figureread your own land →