Joshua, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Joshua, 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 Joshua 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 Joshua — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Joshua — the short answer
Joshua, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 283 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Johnson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Johnson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~283
- Johnson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Johnson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Joshua's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Joshua's 283-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Joshua
Each reading below is measured for Joshua itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsJoshua runs about 283 days between hard freezes (read from Johnson County, the closest normal to Joshua) — 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
MeasuredJoshua 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 Joshua is in
Joshua sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Joshua's own centroid rather than borrowed from Johnson County.
What Grows in Joshua
Every plant below cleared Joshua's own zone 8b and its 283-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Joshua?
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 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Joshua
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Joshua. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JOSHUA QUICK SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CORNER STORE 1209Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #6469Brownfields · 1100 ft
- QUICK MART 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- JOHNSON COUNTY PRECINCT 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CITY OF JOSHUA CITY HALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- H & H OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- JOSHUA CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- TIGER MART 60Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- LONE STAR GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FARM STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SUNMART 135Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Joshua'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 Joshua.
Total Sites
427
within ~10 miles of Joshua
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Joshua
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Joshua
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Joshua, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Joshua — Toxics Release Inventory (40 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (324 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Joshua
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 Joshua average
Your land is one point inside Joshua
Everything above resolves to Joshua as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Johnson 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 Joshua Average
Joshua Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Joshua
- ●One soil character for all of Joshua
- ●Frost dates read at Joshua's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Joshua's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Joshua
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Joshua, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Joshua averages can't show:
We read public map data around Joshua — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Joshua average
How we know this about Joshua
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 Johnson 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 Joshua
When does frost risk typically end in Joshua?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Joshua 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 Joshua?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Joshua typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 283 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Joshua?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Joshua sees about 283 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 16, about 248 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Joshua?
The federal record around Joshua is a meaningful one — 427 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (324), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Joshua?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Joshua's scale — its 8b band and its 283-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Joshua'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 Joshua’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Joshua's own scale — the 5,718 acres it covers and 427 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Joshua's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 427 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Joshua, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Joshua's boundary and the 5,718 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~283-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Joshua's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Joshua has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Johnson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Joshua's 5,718 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Johnson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Johnson 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 Johnson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Joshua's 5,718 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Joshua you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,718 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Joshua-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasJoshua sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides