Lake Worth, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Worth, 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 Worth 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 Worth — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake Worth — the short answer
Lake Worth, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 292 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Tarrant County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Tarrant County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~292
- Tarrant County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Tarrant County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lake Worth's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Worth's 292-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Worth
Each reading below is measured for Lake Worth itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLake Worth runs about 292 days between hard freezes (read from Tarrant County, the closest normal to Lake Worth) — 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 Worth 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 Worth is in
Lake Worth sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lake Worth's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tarrant County.
What Grows in Lake Worth
Every plant below cleared Lake Worth's own zone 8b and its 292-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Worth?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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 Worth
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Worth. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TARGET STORE T2008Brownfields · 500 ft
- GOOD NEIGHBOR STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CVS PHARMACY 7642Brownfields · 700 ft
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #461Brownfields · 800 ft
- DIAMOND SHAMROCK 153Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- FREEMAN ELECTRICUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- PEP BOYS 727Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PEP BOSY NO 727 LAKE WORTHBrownfields · 1000 ft
- KATHYS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- HOP IN MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- STOREHOUSE STORE & STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- LOWES OF LAKE WORTH 1582Brownfields · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Worth'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 Worth.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Worth
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Worth
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Worth, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lake Worth — Toxics Release Inventory (171 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (1,459 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Worth
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 Worth average
Your land is one point inside Lake Worth
Everything above resolves to Lake Worth as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tarrant 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 Lake Worth Average
Lake Worth Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lake Worth
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Worth
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Worth's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Worth's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Worth
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Worth, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Worth averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Worth — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Worth average
How we know this about Lake Worth
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 Tarrant 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 Lake Worth
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Worth?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Worth typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Lake Worth?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Worth typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 292 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Worth?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Worth sees about 292 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 19, about 257 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Worth?
The federal record around Lake Worth runs heavier than most — 2,013 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,459), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lake Worth?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake Worth's scale — its 8b band and its 292-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Worth'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 Worth’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lake Worth's own scale — the 1,577 acres it covers and 2,013 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Worth's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,013 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Worth, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Worth's boundary and the 1,577 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~292-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Worth's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lake Worth has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tarrant County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Worth's 1,577 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tarrant County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tarrant 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 Tarrant County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Worth's 1,577 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Worth you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,577 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Worth-wide figureread your own land →
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