Richland Springs, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Richland Springs, 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 Richland Springs 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 Richland Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Richland Springs — the short answer
Richland Springs, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 272 days between hard freezes, across 643 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- San Saba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- San Saba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~272
- San Saba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 643 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 San Saba County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Richland Springs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Richland Springs's 272-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Richland Springs
Each reading below is measured for Richland Springs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRichland Springs runs about 272 days between hard freezes (read from San Saba County, the closest normal to Richland Springs) — 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
MeasuredRichland Springs 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 Richland Springs is in
Richland Springs sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Richland Springs's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: San Saba County is mostly Edwards Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Richland Springs
Every plant below cleared Richland Springs's own zone 8b and its 272-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Richland Springs?
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 25 — 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 Richland Springs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Richland Springs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JAMES HAMMETTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- RICHLAND SUDPFAS · 2.2 mi
Measured from Richland Springs'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 Richland Springs.
Total Sites
2
within ~10 miles of Richland Springs
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 underground storage tank
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Richland Springs
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •PFAS do not break down in groundwater. Irrigate from a tested source.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Richland Springs
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 Richland Springs average
Your land is one point inside Richland Springs
Everything above resolves to Richland Springs as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 643 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from San Saba 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 Richland Springs Average
Richland Springs Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Richland Springs
- ●One soil character for all of Richland Springs
- ●Frost dates read at Richland Springs's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Richland Springs's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Richland Springs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Richland Springs, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Richland Springs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Richland Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Richland Springs average
How we know this about Richland Springs
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 San Saba 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 Richland Springs
When does frost risk typically end in Richland Springs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Richland Springs 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 Richland Springs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Richland Springs 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 272 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Richland Springs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Richland Springs sees about 272 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 11, about 237 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Richland Springs?
The federal record around Richland Springs shows 2 documented sites, mostly PFAS entries (1), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Richland Springs?
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 Richland Springs's scale — its 8b band and its 272-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Richland Springs'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 Richland Springs’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Richland Springs's own scale — the 643 acres it covers and 2 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Richland Springs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Richland Springs, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Richland Springs's boundary and the 643 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~272-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Richland Springs sits in the Cross Timbers — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Richland Springs has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom San Saba County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Richland Springs's 643 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Saba County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Saba 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 San Saba County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Richland Springs's 643 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Richland Springs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 643 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Richland Springs-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasRichland Springs sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides