Savannah, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Savannah, 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 Savannah 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 Savannah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Savannah — the short answer
Savannah, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 279 days between hard freezes, across 621 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Denton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Denton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~279
- Denton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 621 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 Denton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Savannah's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Savannah's 279-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Savannah
Each reading below is measured for Savannah itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSavannah runs about 279 days between hard freezes (read from Denton County, the closest normal to Savannah) — 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
MeasuredSavannah 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 Savannah is in
Savannah sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Savannah's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Denton County is mostly Cross Timbers. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Savannah
Every plant below cleared Savannah's own zone 8b and its 279-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Savannah?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Savannah
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Savannah. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CORNER STORE 1194Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- BROTHERS GARDEN CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- ICE BOX 4915Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CRASH CHAMPIONS LLCBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- RACETRAC 215Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- SHELL 3521Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 38224Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- RBS EXPRESSBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- KROGER FUEL CENTER 589Underground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- HOME DEPOT STORE 6106Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- CORNER STORE 1211Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #10524Brownfields · 3.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Savannah'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 Savannah.
Total Sites
214
within ~10 miles of Savannah
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Savannah
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Savannah
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Savannah, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Savannah — PFAS (11 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (14 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Savannah
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 Savannah average
Your land is one point inside Savannah
Everything above resolves to Savannah as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 621 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Denton 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 Savannah Average
Savannah Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Savannah
- ●One soil character for all of Savannah
- ●Frost dates read at Savannah's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Savannah's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Savannah
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Savannah, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Savannah averages can't show:
We read public map data around Savannah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Savannah average
How we know this about Savannah
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 Denton 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 Savannah
When does frost risk typically end in Savannah?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Savannah typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Savannah?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Savannah typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 279 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Savannah?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Savannah sees about 279 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 15, about 244 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Savannah?
The federal record around Savannah runs heavier than most — 214 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (135), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Savannah?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Savannah's scale — its 8b band and its 279-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Savannah'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 Savannah’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Savannah's own scale — the 621 acres it covers and 214 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Savannah's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 214 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Savannah, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Savannah's boundary and the 621 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~279-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Savannah sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Savannah has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Denton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Savannah's 621 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Denton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Denton 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 Denton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Savannah's 621 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Savannah you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 621 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Savannah-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasSavannah sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides