May, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in May, 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 May 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 May — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
May — the short answer
May, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 952 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Brown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 20
- Brown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Brown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 952 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 Brown County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is May's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against May's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in May
Each reading below is measured for May itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMay runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Brown County, the closest normal to May) — 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
MeasuredMay sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 May is in
May sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at May's own centroid rather than borrowed from Brown County.
What Grows in May
Every plant below cleared May's own zone 8a and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in May?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 20 — 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 May
Closest first, within ~10 miles of May. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- J & H STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- BOSMA DAIRYCAFO · 2.9 mi
- HARRIS DAIRY FARMCAFO · 4.8 mi
- RISING STAR EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- AMERICAN LEGION POST 433Underground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR # 10976Brownfields · 8.3 mi
- H & H TIRE & AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- BUTLER TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- FINA SERV STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- TAYLOR FOOD MART 2084Underground Storage Tanks · 8.4 mi
- RISING STAR TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.6 mi
- MOUNTAIN VIEW DAIRYCAFO · 9.8 mi
Measured from May'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 May.
Total Sites
12
within ~10 miles of May
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of May
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of May
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in May
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 May average
Your land is one point inside May
Everything above resolves to May as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 952 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Brown 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 May Average
May Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across May
- ●One soil character for all of May
- ●Frost dates read at May's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not May's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in May
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in May, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that May averages can't show:
We read public map data around May — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the May average
How we know this about May
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 Brown 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 May
When does frost risk typically end in May?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in May typically lands around Mar 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in May?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in May typically arrives around Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 6, so the watching starts about Oct 21 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in May?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, May sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 6, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in May?
The federal record around May is light — 12 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (8), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles 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 May?
From about Oct 21 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at May's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of May'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 May’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at May's own scale — the 952 acres it covers and 12 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- May's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 12 documented contamination sites on the federal record near May, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- May's boundary and the 952 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at May's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — May has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Brown County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so May's 952 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Brown County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Brown 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 Brown County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among May's 952 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of May you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 952 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 May-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasMay sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides