Mount Vernon, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Mount Vernon, 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 Mount Vernon 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 Mount Vernon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mount Vernon — the short answer
Mount Vernon, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 279 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Franklin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Franklin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~279
- Franklin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Franklin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Mount Vernon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mount Vernon's 279-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mount Vernon
Each reading below is measured for Mount Vernon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMount Vernon runs about 279 days between hard freezes (read from Franklin County, the closest normal to Mount Vernon) — 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
MeasuredMount Vernon 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 Mount Vernon is in
Mount Vernon sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mount Vernon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Franklin County.
What Grows in Mount Vernon
Every plant below cleared Mount Vernon's own zone 8b and its 279-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mount Vernon?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 29 — 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 Mount Vernon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mount Vernon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JZ-17-55-401Nitrate · 1400 ft
- RIGGINS GROC & STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CEFCO 1050Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- DONS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- PRECINCT MAINTENANCE BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- TAYLOR PROPANEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- TEXAS UTILITIES MINING CC-MONTICELLO MINE 1122Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- NIBLETT MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- JAMES CLIFFORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- J V HULSEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- SOUTH FRANKLIN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- OLEO LANDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mount Vernon'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 Mount Vernon.
Total Sites
80
within ~10 miles of Mount Vernon
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mount Vernon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mount Vernon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mount Vernon, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 7 sites within ~10 miles of Mount Vernon. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Mount Vernon
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 Mount Vernon average
Your land is one point inside Mount Vernon
Everything above resolves to Mount Vernon as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Franklin 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 Mount Vernon Average
Mount Vernon Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Mount Vernon
- ●One soil character for all of Mount Vernon
- ●Frost dates read at Mount Vernon's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mount Vernon's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mount Vernon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mount Vernon, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mount Vernon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mount Vernon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mount Vernon average
How we know this about Mount Vernon
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 Franklin 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 Mount Vernon
When does frost risk typically end in Mount Vernon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mount Vernon 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 Mount Vernon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mount Vernon typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 279 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mount Vernon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mount Vernon sees about 279 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 15, about 244 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mount Vernon?
The federal record around Mount Vernon shows 80 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (49), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Mount Vernon?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mount Vernon's scale — its 8b band and its 279-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mount Vernon'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 Mount Vernon’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mount Vernon's own scale — the 2,760 acres it covers and 80 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mount Vernon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 80 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mount Vernon, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mount Vernon's boundary and the 2,760 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~279-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mount Vernon's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mount Vernon has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Franklin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mount Vernon's 2,760 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Franklin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Franklin 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 Franklin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mount Vernon's 2,760 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mount Vernon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,760 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Mount Vernon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasMount Vernon sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides