Oak Valley, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Oak Valley, 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 Oak Valley 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 Oak Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oak Valley — the short answer
Oak Valley, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Navarro County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Navarro County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- Navarro County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Navarro County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Oak Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oak Valley's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oak Valley
Each reading below is measured for Oak Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOak Valley runs about 288 days between hard freezes (read from Navarro County, the closest normal to Oak Valley) — 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
MeasuredOak Valley 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 Oak Valley is in
Oak Valley sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Oak Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Navarro County.
What Grows in Oak Valley
Every plant below cleared Oak Valley's own zone 8b and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oak Valley?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (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. 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 Oak Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oak Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CORSICANA MAINTENANCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- JETCO CHEMICALSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- RAYS GROCERY & SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- EUREKA GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- NAVARRO HARBOR MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- KERENS SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- VAUGHANS BAIT HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- THE RICHLAND STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- RICHLAND R SUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- JONES EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- NAVARRO COUNTY PRECINCT 3 MAINTENANCE FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- TXDOT RIGHT-OF-WAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oak Valley'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 Oak Valley.
Total Sites
229
within ~10 miles of Oak Valley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
23 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oak Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oak Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oak Valley, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Oak Valley — Toxics Release Inventory (23 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Oak Valley
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 Oak Valley average
Your land is one point inside Oak Valley
Everything above resolves to Oak Valley as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Navarro 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 Oak Valley Average
Oak Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Oak Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Oak Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Oak Valley's scale: Feb 17 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oak Valley's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oak Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oak Valley, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oak Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oak Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oak Valley average
How we know this about Oak Valley
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 Navarro 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 Oak Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Oak Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Valley typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Oak Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Valley 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 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oak Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oak Valley sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 18, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oak Valley?
The federal record around Oak Valley is a meaningful one — 229 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (170), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 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 Oak Valley?
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 Oak Valley's scale — its 8b band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oak Valley'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 Oak Valley’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Oak Valley's own scale — the 1,238 acres it covers and 229 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oak Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 229 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oak Valley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oak Valley's boundary and the 1,238 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oak Valley's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Oak Valley has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Navarro County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oak Valley's 1,238 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Navarro County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Navarro 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 Navarro County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oak Valley's 1,238 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oak Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,238 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.5 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 Oak Valley-wide figureread your own land →
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