Joaquin, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Joaquin, 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 Joaquin 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 Joaquin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Joaquin — the short answer
Joaquin, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- Shelby 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 Shelby County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Joaquin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Joaquin's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Joaquin
Each reading below is measured for Joaquin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsJoaquin runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from Shelby County, the closest normal to Joaquin) — 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
MeasuredJoaquin 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 Joaquin is in
Joaquin sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Joaquin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shelby County.
What Grows in Joaquin
Every plant below cleared Joaquin's own zone 8b and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Joaquin?
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 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 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 Joaquin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Joaquin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DEANS HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- JOAQUIN CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SHIREYS RED DOT SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- WARHORSE VACUUM SERVICESBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- BROOKSHIRE BROTHERS 57Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- JOAQUIN QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- NUWAY OF JOAQUINUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- THE COOK BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- COUNTRY CLEANERSBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- TAYLOR EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- RIVERCITY HEALTH CAREBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- LADOTD Property SiteUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Joaquin'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 Joaquin.
Total Sites
105
within ~10 miles of Joaquin
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Joaquin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Joaquin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Joaquin, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 60 sites within ~10 miles of Joaquin. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Joaquin
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 Joaquin average
Your land is one point inside Joaquin
Everything above resolves to Joaquin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Shelby 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 Joaquin Average
Joaquin Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Joaquin
- ●One soil character for all of Joaquin
- ●Frost dates read at Joaquin's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Joaquin's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Joaquin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Joaquin, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Joaquin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Joaquin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Joaquin average
How we know this about Joaquin
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 Shelby 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 Joaquin
When does frost risk typically end in Joaquin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Joaquin 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 Joaquin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Joaquin 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 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Joaquin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Joaquin sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 15, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Joaquin?
The federal record around Joaquin shows 105 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (60), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Joaquin?
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 Joaquin's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Joaquin'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 Joaquin’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Joaquin's own scale — the 1,476 acres it covers and 105 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Joaquin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 105 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Joaquin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Joaquin's boundary and the 1,476 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Joaquin's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Joaquin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Shelby County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Joaquin's 1,476 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shelby County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shelby 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 Shelby County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Joaquin's 1,476 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Joaquin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,476 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 Joaquin-wide figureread your own land →
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