South Toledo Bend, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Toledo Bend, 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 Toledo Bend 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 Toledo Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
South Toledo Bend — the short answer
South Toledo Bend, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 300 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- Newton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Newton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~300
- Newton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Newton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is South Toledo Bend's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Toledo Bend's 300-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Toledo Bend
Each reading below is measured for South Toledo Bend itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Toledo Bend runs about 300 days between hard freezes (read from Newton County, the closest normal to South Toledo Bend) — 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 Toledo Bend 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 South Toledo Bend is in
South Toledo Bend sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Toledo Bend's own centroid rather than borrowed from Newton County.
What Grows in South Toledo Bend
Every plant below cleared South Toledo Bend's own zone 9a and its 300-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Toledo Bend?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — 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 South Toledo Bend
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Toledo Bend. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TZ-36-52-704Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- TOLEDO BEND TRADING POSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- SABINE RIVER AUTHORITY OF TEXASUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Sa-429Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- Sa-428Nitrate · 3.3 mi
- V-413Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- V-412Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- PARADISE POINT RV MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- Sa-393Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- Sa-440Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- Sa-442Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- Sa-433Nitrate · 5.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Toledo Bend'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 Toledo Bend.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Toledo Bend
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Toledo Bend
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Toledo Bend, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 32 sites within ~10 miles of South Toledo Bend. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in South Toledo Bend
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 Toledo Bend average
Your land is one point inside South Toledo Bend
Everything above resolves to South Toledo Bend as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Newton 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 Toledo Bend Average
South Toledo Bend Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across South Toledo Bend
- ●One soil character for all of South Toledo Bend
- ●Frost dates read at South Toledo Bend's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Toledo Bend's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Toledo Bend
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Toledo Bend, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Toledo Bend averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Toledo Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Toledo Bend average
How we know this about South Toledo Bend
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 Newton 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 Toledo Bend
When does frost risk typically end in South Toledo Bend?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Toledo Bend typically lands around Feb 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 Feb 28.
When is the first frost in South Toledo Bend?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Toledo Bend typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 300 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Toledo Bend?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Toledo Bend sees about 300 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 20, about 265 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Toledo Bend?
The federal record around South Toledo Bend is light — 45 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (32), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.7 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in South Toledo Bend?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Toledo Bend's scale — its 9a band and its 300-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Toledo Bend'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 Toledo Bend’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at South Toledo Bend's own scale — the 2,078 acres it covers and 45 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Toledo Bend's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 45 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Toledo Bend, the closest Nitrate record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Toledo Bend's boundary and the 2,078 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~300-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Toledo Bend's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Toledo Bend has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Newton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Toledo Bend's 2,078 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Newton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Newton 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 Newton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Toledo Bend's 2,078 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Toledo Bend you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,078 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.7 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 Toledo Bend-wide figureread your own land →
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