Malone, 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.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Malone, 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 Malone 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 Malone — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Malone — the short answer
Malone, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 292 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 24
- Hill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Hill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Hill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 292 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 Hill County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Malone's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Malone's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Malone
Each reading below is measured for Malone itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMalone runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Hill County, the closest normal to Malone) — 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
MeasuredMalone 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 Malone is in
Malone sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Malone's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hill County.
What Grows in Malone
Every plant below cleared Malone's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Malone?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Malone
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Malone. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BOYD & MUESSE SERVICE & SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- LUCKOsUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- FRANKYSUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- HAMMER SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- J D GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- WEATHERBY FORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- PEACOCKS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- CEFCO 26Underground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
- HIGHWAY 31 STOP & SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.3 mi
- SAM LANES TRUCKINGBrownfields · 9.5 mi
- COUNTRY CORNER 2Underground Storage Tanks · 9.7 mi
Measured from Malone'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 Malone.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Malone
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Malone
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 Malone average
Your land is one point inside Malone
Everything above resolves to Malone as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 292 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hill 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 Malone Average
Malone Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Malone
- ●One soil character for all of Malone
- ●Frost dates read at Malone's scale: Feb 24 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Malone's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Malone
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Malone, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Malone averages can't show:
We read public map data around Malone — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Malone average
How we know this about Malone
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 Hill 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 Malone
When does frost risk typically end in Malone?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Malone typically lands around Feb 24, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Malone?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Malone typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Malone?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Malone sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 24 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 17 to Nov 14, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Malone?
The federal record around Malone is light — 11 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Malone?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Malone's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Malone'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 Malone’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Malone's own scale — the 292 acres it covers and 11 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Malone's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 11 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Malone, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Malone's boundary and the 292 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Malone's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Malone has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hill County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Malone's 292 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hill County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hill 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 Hill County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Malone's 292 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Malone you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 292 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Malone-wide figureread your own land →
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