Kendleton, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include okra, black-eyed pea, tomato, and jalapeno, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kendleton, 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 Kendleton 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 Kendleton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kendleton — the short answer
Kendleton, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 319 days between hard freezes, across 703 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Fort Bend County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Fort Bend County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~319
- Fort Bend County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 703 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 Fort Bend County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Kendleton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kendleton's 319-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kendleton
Each reading below is measured for Kendleton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsKendleton runs about 319 days between hard freezes (read from Fort Bend County, the closest normal to Kendleton) — 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
MeasuredKendleton 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 Kendleton is in
Kendleton sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Kendleton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fort Bend County.
What Grows in Kendleton
Plants matched to Kendleton's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Kendleton?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — 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 Kendleton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kendleton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- POWELL POINT SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- MIDWAY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- LAMBERTI USA INC - WHARTON CHEMICAL COMPLEXToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- KENDLETON MERCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- JY-66-40-304Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- BEASLEY PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 3.8 mi
- BEASLEY PLANTBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- LONE STAR STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- JY-65-33-508Nitrate · 4.6 mi
- BEASLEY FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- JY-66-32-907Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- HILLTOP GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kendleton'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 Kendleton.
Total Sites
79
within ~10 miles of Kendleton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kendleton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kendleton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kendleton, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 55 sites within ~10 miles of Kendleton. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Kendleton
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 Kendleton average
Your land is one point inside Kendleton
Everything above resolves to Kendleton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 703 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Fort Bend 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 Kendleton Average
Kendleton Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Kendleton
- ●One soil character for all of Kendleton
- ●Frost dates read at Kendleton's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kendleton's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kendleton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kendleton, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kendleton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kendleton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kendleton average
How we know this about Kendleton
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 Fort Bend 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 Kendleton
When does frost risk typically end in Kendleton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kendleton typically lands around Jan 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Kendleton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kendleton typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 319 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kendleton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kendleton sees about 319 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Nov 28, about 284 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kendleton?
The federal record around Kendleton shows 79 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (55), 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 Kendleton?
From about Nov 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kendleton's scale — its 9a band and its 319-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kendleton'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 Kendleton’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Kendleton's own scale — the 703 acres it covers and 79 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kendleton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 79 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kendleton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kendleton's boundary and the 703 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Kendleton's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Kendleton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Fort Bend County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kendleton's 703 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fort Bend County
- The candidate plant list — Texas's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Texas
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fort Bend 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 Fort Bend County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kendleton's 703 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kendleton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 703 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 Kendleton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasKendleton sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides