Quitman, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Quitman, 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 Quitman 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 Quitman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Quitman — the short answer
Quitman, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 274 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Wood County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Wood County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~274
- Wood 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 Wood County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Quitman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Quitman's 274-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Quitman
Each reading below is measured for Quitman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsQuitman runs about 274 days between hard freezes (read from Wood County, the closest normal to Quitman) — 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
MeasuredQuitman 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 Quitman is in
Quitman sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Quitman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wood County.
What Grows in Quitman
Every plant below cleared Quitman's own zone 8b and its 274-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Quitman?
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 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Quitman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Quitman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BOYDS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- BROOKSHIRE GROCERY 60Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #1138Brownfields · 850 ft
- THE PANTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SUPER SAK 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- LONE STAR 6Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- NAPA AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- FRESH FARM PRODUCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- EAGLE SUPER STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CHEVROLET DEALERSHIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- WOOD COUNTY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- WOOD COUNTY JUSTICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Quitman'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 Quitman.
Total Sites
212
within ~10 miles of Quitman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Quitman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Quitman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Quitman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Quitman — PFAS (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (149 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Quitman
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 Quitman average
Your land is one point inside Quitman
Everything above resolves to Quitman as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Wood 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 Quitman Average
Quitman Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Quitman
- ●One soil character for all of Quitman
- ●Frost dates read at Quitman's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Quitman's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Quitman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Quitman, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Quitman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Quitman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Quitman average
How we know this about Quitman
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 Wood 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 Quitman
When does frost risk typically end in Quitman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Quitman typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Quitman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Quitman typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 274 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Quitman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Quitman sees about 274 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 13, about 239 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Quitman?
The federal record around Quitman is a meaningful one — 212 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (149), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Quitman?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Quitman's scale — its 8b band and its 274-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Quitman'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 Quitman’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Quitman's own scale — the 1,234 acres it covers and 212 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Quitman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 212 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Quitman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Quitman's boundary and the 1,234 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~274-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Quitman's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Quitman has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Wood County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Quitman's 1,234 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wood County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wood 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 Wood County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Quitman's 1,234 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Quitman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,234 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Quitman-wide figureread your own land →
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