Mingus, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Mingus, 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 Mingus 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 Mingus — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mingus — the short answer
Mingus, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 265 days between hard freezes, across 995 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Palo Pinto County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Palo Pinto County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~265
- Palo Pinto County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 995 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 Palo Pinto County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Mingus's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mingus's 265-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mingus
Each reading below is measured for Mingus itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMingus runs about 265 days between hard freezes (read from Palo Pinto County, the closest normal to Mingus) — 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
MeasuredMingus 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 Mingus is in
Mingus sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Mingus's own centroid rather than borrowed from Palo Pinto County.
What Grows in Mingus
Every plant below cleared Mingus's own zone 8a and its 265-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mingus?
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 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Mingus
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mingus. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MINGUS QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- GORDON EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- MAINTENANCE SECTION 06Brownfields · 3.3 mi
- GORDON SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- GORDON ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- SO-LO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- E-Z SERVE 100615Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- CITY OF STRAWN CITY BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- GREYHOUND PAC A SACBrownfields · 4.3 mi
- GREYHOUND PAC A SACUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- 200 GRANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- BAR-B TRAVEL PLAZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
2 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mingus'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 Mingus.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mingus
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Mingus
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 Mingus average
Your land is one point inside Mingus
Everything above resolves to Mingus as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 995 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Palo Pinto 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 Mingus Average
Mingus Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Mingus
- ●One soil character for all of Mingus
- ●Frost dates read at Mingus's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mingus's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mingus
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mingus, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mingus averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mingus — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mingus average
How we know this about Mingus
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 Palo Pinto 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 Mingus
When does frost risk typically end in Mingus?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mingus 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 Mingus?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mingus typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 265 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mingus?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mingus sees about 265 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 9, about 230 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mingus?
The federal record around Mingus is light — 14 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (12), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Mingus?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mingus's scale — its 8a band and its 265-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mingus'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 Mingus’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mingus's own scale — the 995 acres it covers and 14 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mingus's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 14 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mingus, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mingus's boundary and the 995 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~265-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mingus's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mingus has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Palo Pinto County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mingus's 995 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Palo Pinto County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Palo Pinto 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 Palo Pinto County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mingus's 995 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mingus you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 995 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Mingus-wide figureread your own land →
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