La Grange, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in La Grange, 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 La Grange 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 La Grange — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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La Grange — the short answer
La Grange, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 304 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Fayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Fayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~304
- Fayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Fayette County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is La Grange's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against La Grange's 304-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in La Grange
Each reading below is measured for La Grange itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLa Grange runs about 304 days between hard freezes (read from Fayette County, the closest normal to La Grange) — 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
MeasuredLa Grange 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 La Grange is in
La Grange sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at La Grange's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Fayette County is mostly Texas Blackland Prairies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in La Grange
Every plant below cleared La Grange's own zone 9a and its 304-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in La Grange?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — 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 La Grange
Closest first, within ~10 miles of La Grange. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAYETTE COUNTY EMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FAJAMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ALS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- VITRO BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- LA GRANGE PETROLEUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- FARMERS LUMBERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- HARRY VOGT ESTATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- FAYETTE COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- SIDS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- FAYETTE ELECTRIC COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- HEB 416Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- ALBERS HATCHERY & FEEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from La Grange'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 La Grange.
Total Sites
170
within ~10 miles of La Grange
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of La Grange
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of La Grange
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around La Grange, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 153 sites within ~10 miles of La Grange. 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 La Grange
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 La Grange average
Your land is one point inside La Grange
Everything above resolves to La Grange as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Fayette 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 La Grange Average
La Grange Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across La Grange
- ●One soil character for all of La Grange
- ●Frost dates read at La Grange's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not La Grange's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in La Grange
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in La Grange, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that La Grange averages can't show:
We read public map data around La Grange — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the La Grange average
How we know this about La Grange
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 Fayette 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 La Grange
When does frost risk typically end in La Grange?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in La Grange typically lands around Feb 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in La Grange?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in La Grange typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 304 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in La Grange?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, La Grange sees about 304 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 24, about 269 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in La Grange?
The federal record around La Grange shows 170 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (153), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 La Grange?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at La Grange's scale — its 9a band and its 304-day season. Your yard writes its own version of La Grange'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 La Grange’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at La Grange's own scale — the 2,647 acres it covers and 170 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- La Grange's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 170 documented contamination sites on the federal record near La Grange, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- La Grange's boundary and the 2,647 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~304-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- La Grange sits in the East Central Texas Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — La Grange has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Fayette County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so La Grange's 2,647 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fayette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fayette 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 Fayette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among La Grange's 2,647 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of La Grange you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,647 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 La Grange-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasLa Grange sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides