New Summerfield, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in New Summerfield, 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 New Summerfield 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 New Summerfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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New Summerfield — the short answer
New Summerfield, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Cherokee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Cherokee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- Cherokee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Cherokee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is New Summerfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against New Summerfield's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in New Summerfield
Each reading below is measured for New Summerfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNew Summerfield runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from Cherokee County, the closest normal to New Summerfield) — 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
MeasuredNew Summerfield 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 New Summerfield is in
New Summerfield sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at New Summerfield's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cherokee County.
What Grows in New Summerfield
Every plant below cleared New Summerfield's own zone 8b and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in New Summerfield?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 New Summerfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of New Summerfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NEW SUMMERFIELD COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #10564Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- POWELL PLANT FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- KLEIN PRODUCTS OF TEXASToxics Release Inventory · 3.6 mi
- GME INCBrownfields · 6.6 mi
- SOUTHERN TIMBER MFGUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
- RITE TRACK 5Underground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
- DONS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
- TEX PLATING AND POWDER COATINGBrownfields · 7.2 mi
- TOWN & COUNTRY DRIVE INNUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- LUCKYS 1Underground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
- STRYKER CREEK STEAM ELECTRIC STATIONToxics Release Inventory · 7.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from New Summerfield'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 New Summerfield.
Total Sites
125
within ~10 miles of New Summerfield
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
16 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of New Summerfield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of New Summerfield
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around New Summerfield, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of New Summerfield — Toxics Release Inventory (16 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (83 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in New Summerfield
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 New Summerfield average
Your land is one point inside New Summerfield
Everything above resolves to New Summerfield as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Cherokee 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 New Summerfield Average
New Summerfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across New Summerfield
- ●One soil character for all of New Summerfield
- ●Frost dates read at New Summerfield's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not New Summerfield's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in New Summerfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in New Summerfield, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that New Summerfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around New Summerfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the New Summerfield average
How we know this about New Summerfield
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 Cherokee 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 New Summerfield
When does frost risk typically end in New Summerfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in New Summerfield typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in New Summerfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in New Summerfield typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in New Summerfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, New Summerfield sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 18, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in New Summerfield?
The federal record around New Summerfield shows 125 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (83), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 New Summerfield?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at New Summerfield's scale — its 8b band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of New Summerfield'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 New Summerfield’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at New Summerfield's own scale — the 3,008 acres it covers and 125 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- New Summerfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 125 documented contamination sites on the federal record near New Summerfield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- New Summerfield's boundary and the 3,008 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at New Summerfield's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — New Summerfield has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Cherokee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so New Summerfield's 3,008 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cherokee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cherokee 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 Cherokee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among New Summerfield's 3,008 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of New Summerfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,008 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 New Summerfield-wide figureread your own land →
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