Plano, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Plano, 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 Plano 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 Plano — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Plano — the short answer
Plano, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 276 days between hard freezes, across 46K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Collin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Collin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~276
- Collin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 46K 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 Collin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Plano's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Plano's 276-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Plano
Each reading below is measured for Plano itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPlano runs about 276 days between hard freezes (read from Collin County, the closest normal to Plano) — 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
MeasuredPlano 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 Plano is in
Plano sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Plano's own centroid rather than borrowed from Collin County.
What Grows in Plano
Every plant below cleared Plano's own zone 8b and its 276-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Plano?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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 Plano
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Plano. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SPECIALIZED CONTRACTINGBrownfields · 1900 ft
- FIRE STATION 4Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- WIZ MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- STOP N GO 2416Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Y PAY MORE CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- XPRESS BEER & WINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- U S POSTAL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FORMER EXXON RS 61808Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SPEEDEE OIL CHANGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SAFEWAY 2554Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- TOM THUMB 2554Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- SUPER 1 MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Plano'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 Plano.
Total Sites
1,540
within ~10 miles of Plano
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
9 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Plano
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Plano
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Plano, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 1,025 sites within ~10 miles of Plano. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Plano
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 Plano average
Your land is one point inside Plano
Everything above resolves to Plano as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 46K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Collin 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 Plano Average
Plano Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Plano
- ●One soil character for all of Plano
- ●Frost dates read at Plano's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Plano's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Plano
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Plano, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Plano averages can't show:
We read public map data around Plano — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Plano average
How we know this about Plano
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 Collin 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 Plano
When does frost risk typically end in Plano?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Plano typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Plano?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Plano typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 276 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Plano?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Plano sees about 276 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 12, about 241 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Plano?
The federal record around Plano runs heavier than most — 1,540 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,025), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Plano?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Plano's scale — its 8b band and its 276-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Plano'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 Plano’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Plano's own scale — the 45,888 acres it covers and 1,540 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Plano's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,540 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Plano, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Plano's boundary and the 45,888 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~276-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Plano's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Plano has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Collin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Plano's 45,888 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Collin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Collin 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 Collin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Plano's 45,888 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Plano you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 45,888 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Plano-wide figureread your own land →
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