Marshall, 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.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Marshall, 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 Marshall 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 Marshall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Marshall — the short answer
Marshall, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 19K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 19K 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 Harrison County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Marshall's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Marshall's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Marshall
Each reading below is measured for Marshall itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMarshall runs about 286 days between hard freezes (read from Harrison County, the closest normal to Marshall) — 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
MeasuredMarshall 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 Marshall is in
Marshall sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Marshall's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harrison County.
What Grows in Marshall
Every plant below cleared Marshall's own zone 8b and its 286-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Marshall?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — 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 Marshall
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Marshall. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY OF MARSHALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- SMITH STEEL CASTING COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 850 ft
- YATES CONSTRUCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- A1 RENT ALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- TRAVIS MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- EAST TEXAS FUELS 202Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- PUMP N PANTRY 12Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- LOIS RAINSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- OTTOS 15Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- AMERICAN UPHOLSTERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- LEWIS ENGINEERINGBrownfields · 2100 ft
- SAV GAS 1Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Marshall'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 Marshall.
Total Sites
295
within ~10 miles of Marshall
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Marshall
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Marshall
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Marshall, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Marshall — Underground Storage Tanks (231 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (20 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 Marshall
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 Marshall average
Your land is one point inside Marshall
Everything above resolves to Marshall as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 19K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Harrison 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 Marshall Average
Marshall Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Marshall
- ●One soil character for all of Marshall
- ●Frost dates read at Marshall's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Marshall's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Marshall
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Marshall, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Marshall averages can't show:
We read public map data around Marshall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Marshall average
How we know this about Marshall
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 Harrison 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 Marshall
When does frost risk typically end in Marshall?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Marshall typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Marshall?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Marshall typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 286 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Marshall?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Marshall sees about 286 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 17, about 251 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Marshall?
The federal record around Marshall is a meaningful one — 295 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (231), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Marshall?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Marshall's scale — its 8b band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Marshall'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 Marshall’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Marshall's own scale — the 19,045 acres it covers and 295 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Marshall's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 295 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Marshall, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Marshall's boundary and the 19,045 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~286-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Marshall's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Marshall has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Harrison County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Marshall's 19,045 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harrison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harrison 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 Harrison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Marshall's 19,045 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Marshall you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 19,045 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Marshall-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Growing region
Nearby growing guides