Stockton Bend, 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.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Stockton 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 Stockton 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 Stockton Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stockton Bend — the short answer
Stockton Bend, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 273 days between hard freezes, across 362 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Hood County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 25
- Hood County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~273
- Hood County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 362 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 Hood County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Stockton Bend's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stockton Bend's 273-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stockton Bend
Each reading below is measured for Stockton Bend itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsStockton Bend runs about 273 days between hard freezes (read from Hood County, the closest normal to Stockton 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
MeasuredStockton Bend 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 Stockton Bend is in
Stockton Bend sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Stockton Bend's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hood County.
What Grows in Stockton Bend
Every plant below cleared Stockton Bend's own zone 8b and its 273-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stockton Bend?
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 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 25 — 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 Stockton Bend
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stockton Bend. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BROADWAY EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- LAKESIDE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- WRANGLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- GLAD FAST STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- H B MAXFIELDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #1115Brownfields · 2.5 mi
- RACETRAC 280Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- DURANT CHEVROLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- NORTH SIDE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- KROGER #917-35Brownfields · 2.6 mi
- CORNER STORE 0440Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- CITY OF GRANBURY WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stockton 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 Stockton Bend.
Total Sites
143
within ~10 miles of Stockton Bend
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stockton Bend
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stockton Bend
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Stockton Bend, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Stockton Bend — PFAS (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (108 sites). 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Stockton 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 Stockton Bend average
Your land is one point inside Stockton Bend
Everything above resolves to Stockton Bend as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 362 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hood 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 Stockton Bend Average
Stockton Bend Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Stockton Bend
- ●One soil character for all of Stockton Bend
- ●Frost dates read at Stockton Bend's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stockton Bend's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stockton Bend
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stockton Bend, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stockton Bend averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stockton Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stockton Bend average
How we know this about Stockton Bend
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 Hood 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 Stockton Bend
When does frost risk typically end in Stockton Bend?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stockton Bend typically lands around Feb 25, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Stockton Bend?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stockton Bend typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 273 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stockton Bend?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stockton Bend sees about 273 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 11, about 238 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stockton Bend?
The federal record around Stockton Bend is a meaningful one — 143 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (108), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 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 Stockton Bend?
From about Oct 26 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Stockton Bend's scale — its 8b band and its 273-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stockton 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 Stockton Bend’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Stockton Bend's own scale — the 362 acres it covers and 143 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stockton Bend's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 143 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stockton Bend, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stockton Bend's boundary and the 362 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~273-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stockton Bend's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Stockton Bend has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hood County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Stockton Bend's 362 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hood County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hood 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 Hood County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Stockton Bend's 362 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stockton 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 362 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 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 Stockton Bend-wide figureread your own land →
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