Markham, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Markham, 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 Markham 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 Markham — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Markham — the short answer
Markham, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 322 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Matagorda County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 15
- Matagorda County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~322
- Matagorda County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Matagorda County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Markham's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Markham's 322-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Markham
Each reading below is measured for Markham itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMarkham runs about 322 days between hard freezes (read from Matagorda County, the closest normal to Markham) — 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
MeasuredMarkham sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Markham is in
Markham sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Markham's own centroid rather than borrowed from Matagorda County.
What Grows in Markham
Every plant below cleared Markham's own zone 9b and its 322-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Markham?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 15 — 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 Markham
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Markham. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MARKHAM HANDY PANTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- MARKHAM STORAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- SUDS-UR-DUDDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- TA-80-08-201Nitrate · 1200 ft
- TA-80-08-203Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- TA-80-08-202Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- MARATHON OIL COMPANYBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- TA-80-08-302Nitrate · 3.1 mi
- TA-80-08-301Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- TA-80-08-103Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- TA-66-64-703Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- GULF COAST IRRIGATION DISTRICTBrownfields · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Markham'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 Markham.
Total Sites
314
within ~10 miles of Markham
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Markham
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Markham
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Markham, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 100 sites within ~10 miles of Markham. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Markham
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 Markham average
Your land is one point inside Markham
Everything above resolves to Markham as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Matagorda 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 Markham Average
Markham Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Markham
- ●One soil character for all of Markham
- ●Frost dates read at Markham's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Markham's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Markham
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Markham, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Markham averages can't show:
We read public map data around Markham — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Markham average
How we know this about Markham
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 Matagorda 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 Markham
When does frost risk typically end in Markham?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Markham typically lands around Jan 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Markham?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Markham typically arrives around Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 1, so the watching starts about Nov 15 — about 322 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Markham?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Markham sees about 322 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Dec 1, about 287 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Markham?
The federal record around Markham is a meaningful one — 314 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (186), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Markham?
From about Nov 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Markham's scale — its 9b band and its 322-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Markham'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 Markham’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Markham's own scale — the 1,439 acres it covers and 314 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Markham's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 314 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Markham, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Markham's boundary and the 1,439 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~322-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Markham's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Markham has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Matagorda County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Markham's 1,439 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Matagorda County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Matagorda 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 Matagorda County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Markham's 1,439 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Markham you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,439 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Markham-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Growing region