Italy, 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.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Italy, 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 Italy 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 Italy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Italy — the short answer
Italy, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 285 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Ellis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Ellis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~285
- Ellis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Ellis County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Italy's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Italy's 285-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Italy
Each reading below is measured for Italy itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsItaly runs about 285 days between hard freezes (read from Ellis County, the closest normal to Italy) — 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
MeasuredItaly 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 Italy is in
Italy sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Italy's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ellis County.
What Grows in Italy
Every plant below cleared Italy'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 Italy?
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. 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 Italy
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Italy. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BOSS GENERAL CONTRACTING BUSINESS OFFICEBrownfields · 850 ft
- VARNER ALONUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- MANSELL GROCERY & FEED STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- JAMIESON MANUFACTURING COToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #10337Brownfields · 1900 ft
- TRADING POSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SPRING MARKET 719Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LOVES TRAVEL STOP 628Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- TEXAS BEST SMOKEHOUSE 1Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- TIGER MART 32Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- GREEN INDUSTRIES INCBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- COUNTRY CORNER 1Underground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Italy'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 Italy.
Total Sites
27
within ~10 miles of Italy
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Italy
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Italy
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Italy, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Italy. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Italy
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 Italy average
Your land is one point inside Italy
Everything above resolves to Italy as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Ellis 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 Italy Average
Italy Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Italy
- ●One soil character for all of Italy
- ●Frost dates read at Italy's scale: Feb 17 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Italy's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Italy
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Italy, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Italy averages can't show:
We read public map data around Italy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Italy average
How we know this about Italy
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 Ellis 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 Italy
When does frost risk typically end in Italy?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Italy 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 Italy?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Italy 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 Italy?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Italy 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 Italy?
The federal record around Italy is a meaningful one — 27 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (15), the nearest Brownfields 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 Italy?
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 Italy's scale — its 8b band and its 285-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Italy'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 Italy’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Italy's own scale — the 1,283 acres it covers and 27 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Italy's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 27 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Italy, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Italy's boundary and the 1,283 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 Italy's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Italy has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Ellis County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Italy's 1,283 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ellis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ellis 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 Ellis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Italy's 1,283 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Italy you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,283 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Italy-wide figureread your own land →
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