Silsbee, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Silsbee, 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 Silsbee 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 Silsbee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Silsbee — the short answer
Silsbee, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 305 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- Hardin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Hardin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~305
- Hardin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Hardin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Silsbee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Silsbee's 305-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Silsbee
Each reading below is measured for Silsbee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSilsbee runs about 305 days between hard freezes (read from Hardin County, the closest normal to Silsbee) — 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
MeasuredSilsbee sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Silsbee is in
Silsbee sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Silsbee's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hardin County.
What Grows in Silsbee
Every plant below cleared Silsbee's own zone 9a and its 305-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Silsbee?
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 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 3 (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 Silsbee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Silsbee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY OF SILSBEE-POLICE DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- SILSBEE EVERGREEN 5 WZ4455Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- BROOKSHIRE BROTHERS 29Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- JONES DECORATING CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SILSBEE SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- UNIVERSAL FOREST PRODUCTS WESTERN DIV INCToxics Release Inventory · 1100 ft
- J DS GROCERY 100620Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FINE TUNINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CARAWAY MOTORUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER 383Brownfields · 1200 ft
- WAYNE'S AUTOMOTIVE (TXU010591)Brownfields · 1300 ft
- SILSBEE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Silsbee'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 Silsbee.
Total Sites
197
within ~10 miles of Silsbee
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
12 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Silsbee
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Silsbee
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Silsbee, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Silsbee. 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.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Silsbee
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 Silsbee average
Your land is one point inside Silsbee
Everything above resolves to Silsbee as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hardin 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 Silsbee Average
Silsbee Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Silsbee
- ●One soil character for all of Silsbee
- ●Frost dates read at Silsbee's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Silsbee's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Silsbee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Silsbee, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Silsbee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Silsbee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Silsbee average
How we know this about Silsbee
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 Hardin 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 Silsbee
When does frost risk typically end in Silsbee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Silsbee typically lands around Feb 3, 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 Feb 24.
When is the first frost in Silsbee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Silsbee 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 305 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Silsbee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Silsbee sees about 305 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 21, about 270 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Silsbee?
The federal record around Silsbee is a meaningful one — 197 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (103), 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 Silsbee?
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 Silsbee's scale — its 9a band and its 305-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Silsbee'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 Silsbee’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Silsbee's own scale — the 4,917 acres it covers and 197 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Silsbee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 197 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Silsbee, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Silsbee's boundary and the 4,917 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~305-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Silsbee's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Silsbee has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hardin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Silsbee's 4,917 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hardin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hardin 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 Hardin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Silsbee's 4,917 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Silsbee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,917 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 Silsbee-wide figureread your own land →
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