Rowlett, 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 Rowlett, 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 Rowlett 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 Rowlett — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rowlett — the short answer
Rowlett, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 294 days between hard freezes, across 13K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~294
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 13K 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 Dallas County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Rowlett's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rowlett's 294-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rowlett
Each reading below is measured for Rowlett itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRowlett runs about 294 days between hard freezes (read from Dallas County, the closest normal to Rowlett) — 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
MeasuredRowlett 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 Rowlett is in
Rowlett sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Rowlett's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dallas County.
What Grows in Rowlett
Every plant below cleared Rowlett's own zone 8b and its 294-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rowlett?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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 Rowlett
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rowlett. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PAULS OIL STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- QUIKTRIP 990Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- TARGET STORE T2234Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- JAMES A SONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ROWLETT PUBLIC WORKS FACILITIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- LONE STAR CIRCUITSToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- RACETRAC 144Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- RED CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- DRY CLEAN SUPER CENTERBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- NORTH TEXAS PATHOLOGYBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- DROP-IN FOODS 70328Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rowlett'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 Rowlett.
Total Sites
1,317
within ~10 miles of Rowlett
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
14 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rowlett
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rowlett
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rowlett, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Rowlett — Toxics Release Inventory (141 sites) and PFAS (12 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Rowlett
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 Rowlett average
Your land is one point inside Rowlett
Everything above resolves to Rowlett as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 13K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dallas 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 Rowlett Average
Rowlett Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Rowlett
- ●One soil character for all of Rowlett
- ●Frost dates read at Rowlett's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rowlett's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rowlett
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rowlett, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rowlett averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rowlett — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rowlett average
How we know this about Rowlett
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 Dallas 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 Rowlett
When does frost risk typically end in Rowlett?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rowlett typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Rowlett?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rowlett typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 294 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rowlett?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rowlett sees about 294 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 21, about 259 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rowlett?
The federal record around Rowlett runs heavier than most — 1,317 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (843), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Rowlett?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rowlett's scale — its 8b band and its 294-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rowlett'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 Rowlett’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rowlett's own scale — the 13,279 acres it covers and 1,317 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rowlett's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,317 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rowlett, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rowlett's boundary and the 13,279 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~294-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rowlett's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rowlett has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dallas County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rowlett's 13,279 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dallas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dallas 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 Dallas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rowlett's 13,279 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rowlett you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,279 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Rowlett-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Growing region