Lake Bridgeport, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Lake Bridgeport, 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 Lake Bridgeport 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 Lake Bridgeport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake Bridgeport — the short answer
Lake Bridgeport, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 260 days between hard freezes, across 299 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~260
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 299 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Lake Bridgeport's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Bridgeport's 260-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Bridgeport
Each reading below is measured for Lake Bridgeport itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLake Bridgeport runs about 260 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredLake Bridgeport sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Lake Bridgeport is in
Lake Bridgeport sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lake Bridgeport's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wise County.
What Grows in Lake Bridgeport
Every plant below cleared Lake Bridgeport's own zone 8a and its 260-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Bridgeport?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — 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 Lake Bridgeport
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Bridgeport. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LAKE BRIDGEPORT OPERATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- BRIDGEPORT GAS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1.8 mi
- LOVES TRAVEL STOP 713Underground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- LAKESIDE GRILL & GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- NACO WESTWIND MANORUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- ONE STOP OF TEXASUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- ACME BRICK BRIDGEPORT PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- ACME BRICK BRIDGEPORT PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 3.2 mi
- CITY OF BRIDGEPORTPFAS · 3.3 mi
- THOMAS PETROLEUMBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- THOMAS PETROLEUMToxics Release Inventory · 3.6 mi
- THOMAS PETROLEUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Bridgeport'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 Lake Bridgeport.
Total Sites
76
within ~10 miles of Lake Bridgeport
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Bridgeport
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Bridgeport
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Bridgeport, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lake Bridgeport — Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (47 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Lake Bridgeport
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 Lake Bridgeport average
Your land is one point inside Lake Bridgeport
Everything above resolves to Lake Bridgeport as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 299 acres. 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 Lake Bridgeport Average
Lake Bridgeport Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Lake Bridgeport
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Bridgeport
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Bridgeport's scale: Mar 7 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Bridgeport's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Bridgeport
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Bridgeport, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Bridgeport averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Bridgeport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Bridgeport average
How we know this about Lake Bridgeport
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 Lake Bridgeport’s own record; 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 Lake Bridgeport
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Bridgeport?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Bridgeport typically lands around Mar 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 Mar 28.
When is the first frost in Lake Bridgeport?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Bridgeport typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 260 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Bridgeport?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Bridgeport sees about 260 frost-free days — roughly Mar 7 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 28 to Nov 8, about 225 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Bridgeport?
The federal record around Lake Bridgeport shows 76 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (47), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Lake Bridgeport?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake Bridgeport's scale — its 8a band and its 260-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Bridgeport'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 Lake Bridgeport’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lake Bridgeport's own scale — its own ~260-day season between 28°F freezes, the 299 acres it covers and 76 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Bridgeport's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lake Bridgeport's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 7 and Nov 22 and the ~260-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 76 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Bridgeport, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Bridgeport's boundary and the 299 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~260-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Bridgeport's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Bridgeport's 299 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wise County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wise 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 Wise County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Bridgeport's 299 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Bridgeport you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 299 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Lake Bridgeport-wide figureread your own land →
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