Plum, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Plum, 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 Plum 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 Plum — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Plum — the short answer
Plum, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 304 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Fayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Fayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~304
- Fayette County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Fayette County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Plum's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Plum's 304-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Plum
Each reading below is measured for Plum itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPlum runs about 304 days between hard freezes (read from Fayette County, the closest normal to Plum) — 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
MeasuredPlum sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Plum is in
Plum sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Plum's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Fayette County is mostly Texas Blackland Prairies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Plum
Every plant below cleared Plum's own zone 9a and its 304-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Plum?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 7 (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. 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 Plum
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Plum. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BJ SERVICES USAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- THE POINT SPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- THOMAS PETROLEUMToxics Release Inventory · 2.6 mi
- THOMAS PETROLEUMBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- THOMAS PETROLEUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- FAYETTE WSC WESTPFAS · 3.0 mi
- LA GRANGE AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER 846Brownfields · 4.2 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 41008Underground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- WEIKELS STORE & BAKERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY #309Brownfields · 4.9 mi
- MURPHY USA 7663Underground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Plum'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 Plum.
Total Sites
179
within ~10 miles of Plum
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Plum
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Plum
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Plum, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 152 sites within ~10 miles of Plum. 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 Plum
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 Plum average
Your land is one point inside Plum
Everything above resolves to Plum as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Fayette 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 Plum Average
Plum Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Plum
- ●One soil character for all of Plum
- ●Frost dates read at Plum's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Plum's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Plum
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Plum, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Plum averages can't show:
We read public map data around Plum — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Plum average
How we know this about Plum
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 Fayette 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 Plum
When does frost risk typically end in Plum?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Plum typically lands around Feb 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Plum?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Plum 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 304 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Plum?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Plum sees about 304 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 24, about 269 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Plum?
The federal record around Plum shows 179 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (152), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 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 Plum?
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 Plum's scale — its 9a band and its 304-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Plum'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 Plum’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Plum's own scale — the 2,246 acres it covers and 179 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Plum's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 179 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Plum, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Plum's boundary and the 2,246 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~304-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Plum sits in the East Central Texas Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Plum has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Fayette County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Plum's 2,246 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fayette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fayette 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 Fayette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Plum's 2,246 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Plum you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,246 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 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 Plum-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasPlum sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides