McKinney, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in McKinney, 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 McKinney 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 McKinney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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McKinney — the short answer
McKinney, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 276 days between hard freezes, across 44K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Collin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Collin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~276
- Collin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 44K 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 Collin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is McKinney's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against McKinney's 276-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in McKinney
Each reading below is measured for McKinney itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMcKinney runs about 276 days between hard freezes (read from Collin County, the closest normal to McKinney) — 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
MeasuredMcKinney 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 McKinney is in
McKinney sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at McKinney's own centroid rather than borrowed from Collin County.
What Grows in McKinney
Every plant below cleared McKinney's own zone 8b and its 276-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in McKinney?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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 McKinney
Closest first, within ~10 miles of McKinney. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALMART NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET 6966Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- WALMART NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET #6966Brownfields · 1700 ft
- DRY CLEAN SUPER STOREBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- KROGER #565-35Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- 7-ELEVEN 33118Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- COSTCO WHOLESALE 1284Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- COSTCO GASOLINE LOC NO 1284Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CIRCLE K 2706318Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- RACETRAC 157Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- RAYTHEON MCKINNEY SITEBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- RAYTHEON MCKINNEY SITEToxics Release Inventory · 1.4 mi
- CORNER STORE 1198Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from McKinney'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 McKinney.
Total Sites
496
within ~10 miles of McKinney
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of McKinney
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of McKinney
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around McKinney, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of McKinney — PFAS (9 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (39 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in McKinney
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 McKinney average
Your land is one point inside McKinney
Everything above resolves to McKinney as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 44K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Collin 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 McKinney Average
McKinney Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across McKinney
- ●One soil character for all of McKinney
- ●Frost dates read at McKinney's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not McKinney's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in McKinney
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in McKinney, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that McKinney averages can't show:
We read public map data around McKinney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McKinney average
How we know this about McKinney
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 Collin 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 McKinney
When does frost risk typically end in McKinney?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in McKinney typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in McKinney?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in McKinney typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 276 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in McKinney?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, McKinney sees about 276 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 12, about 241 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in McKinney?
The federal record around McKinney is a meaningful one — 496 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (332), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 McKinney?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at McKinney's scale — its 8b band and its 276-day season. Your yard writes its own version of McKinney'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 McKinney’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at McKinney's own scale — the 43,752 acres it covers and 496 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- McKinney's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 496 documented contamination sites on the federal record near McKinney, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- McKinney's boundary and the 43,752 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~276-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at McKinney's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — McKinney has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Collin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so McKinney's 43,752 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Collin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Collin 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 Collin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among McKinney's 43,752 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of McKinney you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 43,752 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 McKinney-wide figureread your own land →
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