Nederland, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Nederland, 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 Nederland 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 Nederland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Nederland — the short answer
Nederland, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 315 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 29
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~315
- Jefferson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Jefferson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Nederland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nederland's 315-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nederland
Each reading below is measured for Nederland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNederland runs about 315 days between hard freezes (read from Jefferson County, the closest normal to Nederland) — 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
MeasuredNederland sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Nederland is in
Nederland sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Nederland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Nederland
Every plant below cleared Nederland's own zone 9b and its 315-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nederland?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Nederland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nederland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HELENA DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- S E TEXAS MINI MARK 7Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- ESTELLES FASHION CLEANERSBrownfields · 1500 ft
- FOOD SPOT 3Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- GRIGGS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SUNSHINE NEDERLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- C & E ENTERPRISESBrownfields · 1900 ft
- JAMES A PREJEANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- SPEEDY MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- MICHAELSBrownfields · 2400 ft
- MEINEKE DISCOUNT MUFFLERSBrownfields · 2500 ft
- NEDERLAND ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nederland'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 Nederland.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nederland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nederland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nederland, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Nederland — Toxics Release Inventory (103 sites) and Superfund (15 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Nederland
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 Nederland average
Your land is one point inside Nederland
Everything above resolves to Nederland as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jefferson 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 Nederland Average
Nederland Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Nederland
- ●One soil character for all of Nederland
- ●Frost dates read at Nederland's scale: Jan 29 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nederland's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nederland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nederland, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nederland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nederland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nederland average
How we know this about Nederland
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 Jefferson 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 Nederland
When does frost risk typically end in Nederland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nederland typically lands around Jan 29, 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 Feb 19.
When is the first frost in Nederland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nederland typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 315 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nederland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nederland sees about 315 frost-free days — roughly Jan 29 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 19 to Nov 26, about 280 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nederland?
The federal record around Nederland runs heavier than most — 1,116 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (592), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Nederland?
From about Nov 10 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 Dec 10 (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 Dec 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nederland's scale — its 9b band and its 315-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nederland'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 Nederland’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Nederland's own scale — the 3,627 acres it covers and 1,116 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nederland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,116 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nederland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nederland's boundary and the 3,627 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~315-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nederland's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Nederland has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jefferson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nederland's 3,627 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nederland's 3,627 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nederland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,627 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Nederland-wide figureread your own land →
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