Hudson Bend, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hudson Bend, 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 Hudson Bend 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 Hudson Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hudson Bend — the short answer
Hudson Bend, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 299 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 9
- Travis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Travis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~299
- Travis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Travis County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Hudson Bend's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hudson Bend's 299-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hudson Bend
Each reading below is measured for Hudson Bend itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHudson Bend runs about 299 days between hard freezes (read from Travis County, the closest normal to Hudson Bend) — 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
MeasuredHudson Bend sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Hudson Bend is in
Hudson Bend sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hudson Bend's own centroid rather than borrowed from Travis County.
What Grows in Hudson Bend
Every plant below cleared Hudson Bend's own zone 9a and its 299-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hudson Bend?
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 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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.
Documented around Hudson Bend
Survey cells within 31 miles of Hudson Bend checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 627 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hudson Bend
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hudson Bend. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HUDSON BEND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- LAKELAND HILLS LOTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 36559Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- AUSTIN ENGINEERINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- COMMANDERS POINT YACHT BASINUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- CYPRESS MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- AC VIP MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- LCRA MANSFIELD MARSHALL FORD DAMBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- WESTSIDE SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- LAKEWAY MUDPFAS · 2.7 mi
- MARSHALL FORD FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- ARBOR CAR WASH AND LUBEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hudson Bend'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 Hudson Bend.
Total Sites
277
within ~10 miles of Hudson Bend
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hudson Bend
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hudson Bend
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hudson Bend, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hudson Bend — PFAS (10 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (197 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Hudson Bend
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 Hudson Bend average
Your land is one point inside Hudson Bend
Everything above resolves to Hudson Bend as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Travis 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 Hudson Bend Average
Hudson Bend Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Hudson Bend
- ●One soil character for all of Hudson Bend
- ●Frost dates read at Hudson Bend's scale: Feb 9 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hudson Bend's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hudson Bend
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hudson Bend, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hudson Bend averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hudson Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hudson Bend average
How we know this about Hudson Bend
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 Travis 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 Hudson Bend
When does frost risk typically end in Hudson Bend?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hudson Bend typically lands around Feb 9, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Hudson Bend?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hudson Bend typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 299 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hudson Bend?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hudson Bend sees about 299 frost-free days — roughly Feb 9 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 2 to Nov 21, about 264 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hudson Bend?
The federal record around Hudson Bend is a meaningful one — 277 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (197), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Hudson Bend?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hudson Bend's scale — its 9a band and its 299-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hudson Bend'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 Hudson Bend’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hudson Bend's own scale — the 2,552 acres it covers and 277 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hudson Bend's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 277 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hudson Bend, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hudson Bend's boundary and the 2,552 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~299-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hudson Bend's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Hudson Bend checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hudson Bend has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Travis County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hudson Bend's 2,552 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Travis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Travis 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 Travis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hudson Bend's 2,552 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hudson Bend you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,552 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Hudson Bend-wide figureread your own land →
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