Pine Forest, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pine Forest, 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 Pine Forest 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 Pine Forest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pine Forest — the short answer
Pine Forest, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 312 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 30
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~312
- Orange County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Orange County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Pine Forest's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pine Forest's 312-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pine Forest
Each reading below is measured for Pine Forest itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPine Forest runs about 312 days between hard freezes (read from Orange County, the closest normal to Pine Forest) — 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
MeasuredPine Forest 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 Pine Forest is in
Pine Forest sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Pine Forest's own centroid rather than borrowed from Orange County.
What Grows in Pine Forest
Every plant below cleared Pine Forest's own zone 9b and its 312-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pine Forest?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Pine Forest
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pine Forest. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAMILY DOLLAR #10335Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- LONE STAR SUPERMARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- GLENNS AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- JRS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- UJ-61-56-605Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- MAURICEVILLE MUDPFAS · 1.0 mi
- ORANGE COUNTY WCID 1PFAS · 1.0 mi
- PINE FOREST FUELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- LAKEVIEW EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- HAYNES OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- LAKEVIEW GROCERY 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- GOOBERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pine Forest'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 Pine Forest.
Total Sites
859
within ~10 miles of Pine Forest
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pine Forest
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pine Forest
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pine Forest, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 534 sites within ~10 miles of Pine Forest. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Pine Forest
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 Pine Forest average
Your land is one point inside Pine Forest
Everything above resolves to Pine Forest as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Orange 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 Pine Forest Average
Pine Forest Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Pine Forest
- ●One soil character for all of Pine Forest
- ●Frost dates read at Pine Forest's scale: Jan 30 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pine Forest's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pine Forest
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pine Forest, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pine Forest averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pine Forest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pine Forest average
How we know this about Pine Forest
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 Orange 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 Pine Forest
When does frost risk typically end in Pine Forest?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pine Forest typically lands around Jan 30, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Pine Forest?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pine Forest typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 312 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pine Forest?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pine Forest sees about 312 frost-free days — roughly Jan 30 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 20 to Nov 24, about 277 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pine Forest?
The federal record around Pine Forest is a meaningful one — 859 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (534), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Pine Forest?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pine Forest's scale — its 9b band and its 312-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pine Forest'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 Pine Forest’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Pine Forest's own scale — the 1,802 acres it covers and 859 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pine Forest's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 859 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pine Forest, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pine Forest's boundary and the 1,802 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~312-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pine Forest's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pine Forest has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Orange County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pine Forest's 1,802 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Orange County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Orange 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 Orange County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pine Forest's 1,802 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pine Forest you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,802 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Pine Forest-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasPine Forest sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides