Pecan Hill, 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.
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 Pecan Hill, 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 Pecan Hill 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 Pecan Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pecan Hill — the short answer
Pecan Hill, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 285 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Ellis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Ellis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~285
- Ellis County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Ellis County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Pecan Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pecan Hill's 285-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pecan Hill
Each reading below is measured for Pecan Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPecan Hill runs about 285 days between hard freezes (read from Ellis County, the closest normal to Pecan Hill) — 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
MeasuredPecan Hill 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 Pecan Hill is in
Pecan Hill sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Pecan Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ellis County.
What Grows in Pecan Hill
Every plant below cleared Pecan Hill's own zone 8b and its 285-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pecan Hill?
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 Nov 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Pecan Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pecan Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHELL 103Underground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- TIGER MART 66Underground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- TEXAS LINE TESTBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- RED OAK MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- TOTE-A-WAY 1 70306Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- RED OAK MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- RED OAK ISD TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- ESCOBAR AUTO PAINT & BODY SHOPBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- CITY OF RED OAK FUEL DISPENSING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- WAXAHACHIE PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 2.4 mi
- HLH&R METAL RECYCLINGToxics Release Inventory · 2.8 mi
- CITY OF GLENN HEIGHTSPFAS · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pecan Hill'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 Pecan Hill.
Total Sites
445
within ~10 miles of Pecan Hill
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pecan Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pecan Hill
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pecan Hill, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Pecan Hill — Toxics Release Inventory (57 sites) and PFAS (6 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 Pecan Hill
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 Pecan Hill average
Your land is one point inside Pecan Hill
Everything above resolves to Pecan Hill as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Ellis 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 Pecan Hill Average
Pecan Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Pecan Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Pecan Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Pecan Hill's scale: Feb 17 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pecan Hill's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pecan Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pecan Hill, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pecan Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pecan Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pecan Hill average
How we know this about Pecan Hill
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 Ellis 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 Pecan Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Pecan Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pecan Hill 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 Pecan Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pecan Hill 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 285 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pecan Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pecan Hill sees about 285 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 15, about 250 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pecan Hill?
The federal record around Pecan Hill is a meaningful one — 445 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (282), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 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 Pecan Hill?
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 Pecan Hill's scale — its 8b band and its 285-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pecan Hill'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 Pecan Hill’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Pecan Hill's own scale — the 1,364 acres it covers and 445 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pecan Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 445 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pecan Hill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pecan Hill's boundary and the 1,364 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~285-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pecan Hill's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pecan Hill has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Ellis County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pecan Hill's 1,364 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ellis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ellis 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 Ellis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pecan Hill's 1,364 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pecan Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,364 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 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 Pecan Hill-wide figureread your own land →
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