Killeen, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Killeen, 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 Killeen 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 Killeen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Killeen — the short answer
Killeen, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 35K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Bell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Bell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Bell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 35K 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 Bell County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Killeen's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Killeen's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Killeen
Each reading below is measured for Killeen itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsKilleen runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Bell County, the closest normal to Killeen) — 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
MeasuredKilleen 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 Killeen is in
Killeen sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Killeen's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Bell County is mostly Texas Blackland Prairies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Killeen
Every plant below cleared Killeen's own zone 8b and its 287-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Killeen?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Killeen
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Killeen. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MCLEAN CONSTRUCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- CORNER STORE 1569Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- FREEDOM URGENT CARE KILLEENBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- TEXAS CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- MICKEYS CONVENIENCE FOOD STORE 6Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40546Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CEFCO 88Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MICKEY ICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CITY OF KILLEEN FLEET SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD ARMORYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR # 9026Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- ZIPPYS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Killeen'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 Killeen.
Total Sites
313
within ~10 miles of Killeen
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Killeen
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Killeen
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Killeen, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Killeen — PFAS (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (224 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Killeen
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 Killeen average
Your land is one point inside Killeen
Everything above resolves to Killeen as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 35K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bell 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 Killeen Average
Killeen Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Killeen
- ●One soil character for all of Killeen
- ●Frost dates read at Killeen's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Killeen's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Killeen
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Killeen, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Killeen averages can't show:
We read public map data around Killeen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Killeen average
How we know this about Killeen
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 Bell 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 Killeen
When does frost risk typically end in Killeen?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Killeen typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Killeen?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Killeen typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Killeen?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Killeen sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 18, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Killeen?
The federal record around Killeen is a meaningful one — 313 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (224), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Killeen?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Killeen's scale — its 8b band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Killeen'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 Killeen’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Killeen's own scale — the 34,962 acres it covers and 313 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Killeen's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 313 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Killeen, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Killeen's boundary and the 34,962 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~287-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Killeen sits in the Cross Timbers — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Killeen has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bell County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Killeen's 34,962 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bell 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 Bell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Killeen's 34,962 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Killeen you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 34,962 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 Killeen-wide figureread your own land →
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