Lake Bryan, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Lake Bryan, 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 Bryan 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 Bryan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake Bryan — the short answer
Lake Bryan, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 302 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Brazos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Brazos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~302
- Brazos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Brazos County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Lake Bryan's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Bryan's 302-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Bryan
Each reading below is measured for Lake Bryan itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLake Bryan runs about 302 days between hard freezes (read from Brazos County, the closest normal to Lake Bryan) — 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 Bryan 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 Lake Bryan is in
Lake Bryan sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lake Bryan's own centroid rather than borrowed from Brazos County.
What Grows in Lake Bryan
Every plant below cleared Lake Bryan's own zone 9a and its 302-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Bryan?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Lake Bryan
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Bryan. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BJ-59-21-105Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- DANSBY POWER PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- GRIFFIN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- AXIS PIPE AND TUBE, INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 1.6 mi
- AXIS PIPE AND TUBE BRYAN FACILITYBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- AMAZONCOM SERVICES LLC - WBY1Brownfields · 2.2 mi
- BJ-59-21-207Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- HARDROCK CONSTRUCTION CO INCBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- FEDERAL EXPRESS ZBRYBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- BJ-59-21-205Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- TOYO INK BRYAN MANUFACTURING FACILITYBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- TOYO INK BRYAN MANUFACTURING FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Bryan'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 Bryan.
Total Sites
379
within ~10 miles of Lake Bryan
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
25 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Bryan
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Bryan
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Bryan, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lake Bryan — Underground Storage Tanks (260 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (25 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Lake Bryan
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 Bryan average
Your land is one point inside Lake Bryan
Everything above resolves to Lake Bryan as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Brazos County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Bryan Average
Lake Bryan Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Lake Bryan
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Bryan
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Bryan's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Bryan's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Bryan
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Bryan, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Bryan averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Bryan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Bryan average
How we know this about Lake Bryan
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Brazos 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Bryan
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Bryan?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Bryan 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 Lake Bryan?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Bryan typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 302 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Bryan?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Bryan sees about 302 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 22, about 267 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Bryan?
The federal record around Lake Bryan is a meaningful one — 379 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (260), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.9 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 Lake Bryan?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake Bryan's scale — its 9a band and its 302-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Bryan'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 Bryan’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lake Bryan's own scale — the 4,840 acres it covers and 379 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Bryan's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 379 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Bryan, the closest Nitrate record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Bryan's boundary and the 4,840 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~302-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Bryan's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lake Bryan has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Brazos County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Bryan's 4,840 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Brazos County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Brazos 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 Brazos County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Bryan's 4,840 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Bryan you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,840 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.9 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 Bryan-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasLake Bryan sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides