Runaway Bay, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Runaway Bay, 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 Runaway Bay 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 Runaway Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Runaway Bay — the short answer
Runaway Bay, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Runaway Bay's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Runaway Bay's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Runaway Bay
Each reading below is measured for Runaway Bay itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRunaway Bay runs about 261 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredRunaway Bay sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Runaway Bay is in
Runaway Bay sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Runaway Bay's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wise County.
What Grows in Runaway Bay
Every plant below cleared Runaway Bay's own zone 8a and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Runaway Bay?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — 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 Runaway Bay
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Runaway Bay. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NACO WESTWIND MANORUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ONE STOP OF TEXASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LAKESIDE GRILL & GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- LOVES TRAVEL STOP 713Underground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- CITY OF BRIDGEPORTPFAS · 2.3 mi
- LAKE BRIDGEPORT OPERATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- BRIDGEPORT GAS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 4.3 mi
- ACME BRICK BRIDGEPORT PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 6.2 mi
- ACME BRICK BRIDGEPORT PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- ZR-19-50-903Nitrate · 6.5 mi
- SUNRISE ENVIRONMENTALBrownfields · 6.6 mi
- THOMAS PETROLEUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Runaway Bay'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 Runaway Bay.
Total Sites
68
within ~10 miles of Runaway Bay
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Runaway Bay
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Runaway Bay
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Runaway Bay, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Runaway Bay — Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (44 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Runaway Bay
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 Runaway Bay average
Your land is one point inside Runaway Bay
Everything above resolves to Runaway Bay as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K acres. 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 Runaway Bay Average
Runaway Bay Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Runaway Bay
- ●One soil character for all of Runaway Bay
- ●Frost dates read at Runaway Bay's scale: Mar 7 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Runaway Bay's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Runaway Bay
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Runaway Bay, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Runaway Bay averages can't show:
We read public map data around Runaway Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Runaway Bay average
How we know this about Runaway Bay
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 Runaway Bay’s own record; 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 Runaway Bay
When does frost risk typically end in Runaway Bay?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Runaway Bay typically lands around Mar 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 Mar 28.
When is the first frost in Runaway Bay?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Runaway Bay typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Runaway Bay?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Runaway Bay sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 7 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 28 to Nov 9, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Runaway Bay?
The federal record around Runaway Bay shows 68 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (44), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Runaway Bay?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Runaway Bay's scale — its 8a band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Runaway Bay'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 Runaway Bay’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Runaway Bay's own scale — its own ~261-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,612 acres it covers and 68 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Runaway Bay's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Runaway Bay's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 7 and Nov 23 and the ~261-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 68 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Runaway Bay, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Runaway Bay's boundary and the 1,612 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Runaway Bay's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Runaway Bay's 1,612 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wise County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wise 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 Wise County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Runaway Bay's 1,612 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Runaway Bay you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,612 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 Runaway Bay-wide figureread your own land →
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