Point, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Point, 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 Point 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 Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Point — the short answer
Point, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 273 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Rains County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Rains County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~273
- Rains 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 Rains County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Point's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Point's 273-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Point
Each reading below is measured for Point itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPoint runs about 273 days between hard freezes (read from Rains County, the closest normal to Point) — 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
MeasuredPoint 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 Point is in
Point sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Point's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rains County.
What Grows in Point
Every plant below cleared Point's own zone 8b and its 273-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Point?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — 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 Point
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Point. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PHILLIPS AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MAX A MART 5Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RANDYS GAS & GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SABINE RIVER AUTHORITY IRON BRIDGE DIVUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EXTREME METAL FINISHINGSuperfund · 0.7 mi
- AAA WIRE PRODUCTS INCToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- KOUNTRY KAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- DAL AIR TOOL CO DBA DAL AIR INBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- SUPER STOP SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- UX-34-01-601Nitrate · 3.1 mi
- BRIGHT STAR-SALEM SUDPFAS · 3.6 mi
- CITY OF POINTPFAS · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Point'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 Point.
Total Sites
63
within ~10 miles of Point
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Point
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Point
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Point, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Point — PFAS (3 sites) and CAFO (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Point
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 Point average
Your land is one point inside Point
Everything above resolves to Point as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Rains 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 Point Average
Point Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Point
- ●One soil character for all of Point
- ●Frost dates read at Point's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Point's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Point
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Point, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Point averages can't show:
We read public map data around Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Point average
How we know this about Point
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 Rains 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 Point
When does frost risk typically end in Point?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Point typically lands around Feb 25, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Point?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Point typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 273 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Point?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Point sees about 273 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 11, about 238 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Point?
The federal record around Point is a meaningful one — 63 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Point?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Point's scale — its 8b band and its 273-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Point'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 Point’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Point's own scale — the 1,764 acres it covers and 63 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Point's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 63 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Point, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Point's boundary and the 1,764 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~273-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Point's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Point has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Rains County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Point's 1,764 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rains County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rains 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 Rains County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Point's 1,764 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Point you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,764 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Point-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasPoint sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides