South Houston, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in South Houston, 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 South Houston 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 South Houston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
South Houston — the short answer
South Houston, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 323 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 28
- Harris County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 17
- Harris County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~323
- Harris County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Harris County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is South Houston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Houston's 323-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Houston
Each reading below is measured for South Houston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Houston runs about 323 days between hard freezes (read from Harris County, the closest normal to South Houston) — 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
MeasuredSouth Houston sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 South Houston is in
South Houston sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at South Houston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harris County.
What Grows in South Houston
Every plant below cleared South Houston's own zone 9b and its 323-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Houston?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 17 — 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.
Documented around South Houston
Survey cells within 31 miles of South Houston checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 470 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Houston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Houston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY OF SOUTH HOUSTONPFAS · 25 ft
- MARTIN ASPHALTUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- MARTIN ASPHALT-SOUTH HOUSTONToxics Release Inventory · 1100 ft
- TEXAS PAN SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- KIRB STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- J R HUNTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SPENCER AUTO SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- GIL BROCK BODY & PAINT SHOPBrownfields · 1700 ft
- SPRINT WASTE SERVICESBrownfields · 1700 ft
- SOUTH HOUSTON FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SAMS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HUDSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Houston'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 South Houston.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Houston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Houston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Houston, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of South Houston — Toxics Release Inventory (374 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (2,366 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.
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 South Houston
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 South Houston average
Your land is one point inside South Houston
Everything above resolves to South Houston as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Harris 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 South Houston Average
South Houston Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across South Houston
- ●One soil character for all of South Houston
- ●Frost dates read at South Houston's scale: Jan 28 to Dec 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Houston's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Houston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Houston, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Houston averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Houston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Houston average
How we know this about South Houston
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 Harris 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 South Houston
When does frost risk typically end in South Houston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Houston typically lands around Jan 28, 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 18.
When is the first frost in South Houston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Houston typically arrives around Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 3, so the watching starts about Nov 17 — about 323 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Houston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Houston sees about 323 frost-free days — roughly Jan 28 through Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 18 to Dec 3, about 288 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Houston?
The federal record around South Houston runs heavier than most — 3,728 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2,366), the nearest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 South Houston?
From about Nov 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Houston's scale — its 9b band and its 323-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Houston'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 South Houston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at South Houston's own scale — the 1,949 acres it covers and 3,728 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Houston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 3,728 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Houston, the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Houston's boundary and the 1,949 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~323-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Houston's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around South Houston checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Houston has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Harris County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Houston's 1,949 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harris County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harris 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 Harris County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Houston's 1,949 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Houston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,949 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 South Houston-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasSouth Houston sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides