Melissa, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Melissa, 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 Melissa 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 Melissa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Melissa — the short answer
Melissa, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 276 days between hard freezes, across 7K 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
- 7K 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 Melissa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Melissa's 276-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Melissa
Each reading below is measured for Melissa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMelissa runs about 276 days between hard freezes (read from Collin County, the closest normal to Melissa) — 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
MeasuredMelissa 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 Melissa is in
Melissa sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Melissa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Collin County.
What Grows in Melissa
Every plant below cleared Melissa'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 Melissa?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Melissa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Melissa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KROGER #984-35Brownfields · 850 ft
- CORNER STORE 1599Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #10673Brownfields · 2100 ft
- NORTH COLLIN SUDPFAS · 2300 ft
- CITY OF MELISSAPFAS · 2300 ft
- MELISSA CENTRAL OFFICE 837Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MELISSA ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- PDQUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MELISSA BEVERAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- KIMS KORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- STEELFAB TEXASToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- CMC STEEL FABRICATORS (DBA CMC REBAR)Toxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Melissa'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 Melissa.
Total Sites
298
within ~10 miles of Melissa
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Melissa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Melissa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Melissa, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Melissa — PFAS (4 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (25 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Melissa
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 Melissa average
Your land is one point inside Melissa
Everything above resolves to Melissa as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K 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 Melissa Average
Melissa Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Melissa
- ●One soil character for all of Melissa
- ●Frost dates read at Melissa's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Melissa's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Melissa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Melissa, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Melissa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Melissa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Melissa average
How we know this about Melissa
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 Melissa
When does frost risk typically end in Melissa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Melissa 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 Melissa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Melissa 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 Melissa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Melissa 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 Melissa?
The federal record around Melissa is a meaningful one — 298 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (218), the nearest Brownfields 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 Melissa?
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 Melissa's scale — its 8b band and its 276-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Melissa'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 Melissa’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Melissa's own scale — the 7,334 acres it covers and 298 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Melissa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 298 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Melissa, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Melissa's boundary and the 7,334 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 Melissa's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Melissa 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 Melissa's 7,334 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 Melissa's 7,334 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Melissa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,334 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Melissa-wide figureread your own land →
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