South Mountain, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Mountain, 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 Mountain 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 Mountain — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Mountain — the short answer
South Mountain, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Coryell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Coryell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Coryell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Coryell County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is South Mountain's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Mountain's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Mountain
Each reading below is measured for South Mountain itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Mountain runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Coryell County, the closest normal to South Mountain) — 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 Mountain 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 South Mountain is in
South Mountain sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at South Mountain's own centroid rather than borrowed from Coryell County.
What Grows in South Mountain
Every plant below cleared South Mountain's own zone 8b and its 287-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Mountain?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — 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 South Mountain
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Mountain. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FIBRE BODY INDUSTRIESToxics Release Inventory · 1.4 mi
- TXDOT GATESVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- SMITH FAMILY SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- GATESVILLE ARMORYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- CEFCO 31Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- MURPHY USA 7223Underground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER 476Underground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- HAMONS AUTO BODYBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER 476Brownfields · 2.4 mi
- GATESVILLE FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- JOE BOBS ONE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Mountain'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 Mountain.
Total Sites
97
within ~10 miles of South Mountain
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Mountain
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Mountain
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Mountain, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 85 sites within ~10 miles of South Mountain. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in South Mountain
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 Mountain average
Your land is one point inside South Mountain
Everything above resolves to South Mountain as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Coryell 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 South Mountain Average
South Mountain Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across South Mountain
- ●One soil character for all of South Mountain
- ●Frost dates read at South Mountain's scale: Feb 17 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Mountain's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Mountain
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Mountain, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Mountain averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Mountain — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Mountain average
How we know this about South Mountain
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 Coryell 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 South Mountain
When does frost risk typically end in South Mountain?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Mountain typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in South Mountain?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Mountain typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Mountain?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Mountain sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 17, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Mountain?
The federal record around South Mountain is a meaningful one — 97 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (85), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.4 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 South Mountain?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Mountain's scale — its 8b band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Mountain'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 Mountain’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at South Mountain's own scale — the 1,032 acres it covers and 97 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Mountain's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 97 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Mountain, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Mountain's boundary and the 1,032 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~287-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Mountain's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Mountain has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Coryell County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Mountain's 1,032 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Coryell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Coryell 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 Coryell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Mountain's 1,032 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Mountain you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,032 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.4 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 South Mountain-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasSouth Mountain sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides