Hitchcock, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hitchcock, 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 Hitchcock 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 Hitchcock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hitchcock — the short answer
Hitchcock, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 311 days between hard freezes, across 39K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 20
- Galveston County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Galveston County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~311
- Galveston County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 39K 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 Galveston County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Hitchcock's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hitchcock's 311-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hitchcock
Each reading below is measured for Hitchcock itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHitchcock runs about 311 days between hard freezes (read from Galveston County, the closest normal to Hitchcock) — 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
MeasuredHitchcock 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 Hitchcock is in
Hitchcock sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hitchcock's own centroid rather than borrowed from Galveston County.
What Grows in Hitchcock
Every plant below cleared Hitchcock's own zone 9b and its 311-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hitchcock?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Hitchcock
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hitchcock. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY OF HITCHCOCKPFAS · 2.1 mi
- KH-65-48-502Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- CUSTOM CHEMICAL SERVICESToxics Release Inventory · 4.1 mi
- CUSTOM CHEMICAL SERVICESBrownfields · 4.1 mi
- NAVAL AIR STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- CITY MAINTENANCE BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- FORMER HWY 6 AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- MAKO ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONSBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- HITCHCOCK ISD BUS BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- HITCHCOCK VOL FIRE DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- CITY WATER PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- PRIME MART 35Underground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hitchcock'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 Hitchcock.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hitchcock
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hitchcock
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hitchcock, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hitchcock — Superfund (8 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (33 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Hitchcock
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 Hitchcock average
Your land is one point inside Hitchcock
Everything above resolves to Hitchcock as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 39K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Galveston 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 Hitchcock Average
Hitchcock Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Hitchcock
- ●One soil character for all of Hitchcock
- ●Frost dates read at Hitchcock's scale: Jan 20 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hitchcock's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hitchcock
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hitchcock, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hitchcock averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hitchcock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hitchcock average
How we know this about Hitchcock
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 Galveston 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 Hitchcock
When does frost risk typically end in Hitchcock?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hitchcock typically lands around Jan 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 Feb 10.
When is the first frost in Hitchcock?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hitchcock typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 311 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hitchcock?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hitchcock sees about 311 frost-free days — roughly Jan 20 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 10 to Nov 13, about 276 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hitchcock?
The federal record around Hitchcock runs heavier than most — 482 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (329), the nearest PFAS record about 2.1 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Hitchcock?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hitchcock's scale — its 9b band and its 311-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hitchcock'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 Hitchcock’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hitchcock's own scale — the 38,676 acres it covers and 482 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hitchcock's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 482 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hitchcock, the closest PFAS record about 2.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hitchcock's boundary and the 38,676 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~311-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hitchcock's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hitchcock has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Galveston County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hitchcock's 38,676 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Galveston County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Galveston 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 Galveston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hitchcock's 38,676 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hitchcock you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 38,676 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS record about 2.1 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 Hitchcock-wide figureread your own land →
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