Lake Cherokee, 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.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Lake Cherokee, 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 Cherokee 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 Cherokee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake Cherokee — the short answer
Lake Cherokee, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 285 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Rusk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Rusk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~285
- Rusk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 8K 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 Rusk County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lake Cherokee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Cherokee's 285-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Cherokee
Each reading below is measured for Lake Cherokee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLake Cherokee runs about 285 days between hard freezes (read from Rusk County, the closest normal to Lake Cherokee) — 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 Cherokee 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 Lake Cherokee is in
Lake Cherokee sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lake Cherokee's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rusk County.
What Grows in Lake Cherokee
Every plant below cleared Lake Cherokee's own zone 8b and its 285-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Cherokee?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (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. 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 Cherokee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Cherokee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KNOX LEE POWER PLANTBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- KNOX LEE POWER PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1.3 mi
- DPC INDUSTRIES INCToxics Release Inventory · 2.1 mi
- PONTOON PARADISEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- WR-35-43-4XXNitrate · 2.6 mi
- LONGVIEW TD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- CLADTECBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- LONGVIEW GAS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 4.0 mi
- SHAW FCI PIPE SUPPORT SALES INCToxics Release Inventory · 4.1 mi
- CLAYTONS MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- PERFORMANCE FRICTION PRODUCTSToxics Release Inventory · 4.2 mi
- AEROSMITH AVIATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Cherokee'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 Cherokee.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Cherokee
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Cherokee
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Cherokee, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 41 sites within ~10 miles of Lake Cherokee. 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.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Lake Cherokee
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 Cherokee average
Your land is one point inside Lake Cherokee
Everything above resolves to Lake Cherokee as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Rusk 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 Cherokee Average
Lake Cherokee Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lake Cherokee
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Cherokee
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Cherokee's scale: Feb 20 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Cherokee's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Cherokee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Cherokee, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Cherokee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Cherokee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Cherokee average
How we know this about Lake Cherokee
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 Rusk 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 Cherokee
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Cherokee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Cherokee typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Lake Cherokee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Cherokee 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 285 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Cherokee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Cherokee sees about 285 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 18, about 250 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Cherokee?
The federal record around Lake Cherokee is a meaningful one — 242 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (123), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.3 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 Cherokee?
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 Lake Cherokee's scale — its 8b band and its 285-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Cherokee'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 Cherokee’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lake Cherokee's own scale — the 7,864 acres it covers and 242 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Cherokee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 242 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Cherokee, the closest Brownfields record about 1.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Cherokee's boundary and the 7,864 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~285-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Cherokee's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lake Cherokee has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Rusk County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Cherokee's 7,864 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rusk County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rusk 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 Rusk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Cherokee's 7,864 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Cherokee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,864 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.3 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 Cherokee-wide figureread your own land →
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