Talco, 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.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Talco, 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 Talco 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 Talco — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Talco — the short answer
Talco, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 271 days between hard freezes, across 490 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Titus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Titus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~271
- Titus County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 490 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 Titus County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Talco's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Talco's 271-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Talco
Each reading below is measured for Talco itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTalco runs about 271 days between hard freezes (read from Titus County, the closest normal to Talco) — 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
MeasuredTalco 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 Talco is in
Talco sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Talco's own centroid rather than borrowed from Titus County.
What Grows in Talco
Every plant below cleared Talco's own zone 8b and its 271-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Talco?
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 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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 Talco
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Talco. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- QUICK TRACK 23Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- JES FOODUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- TEXAS UTILITIES ELECTRIC RIVERCREST STATIONBrownfields · 4.0 mi
- FRANK COLE ENGINEERING SPILLSuperfund · 7.3 mi
- BUSSELL GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.6 mi
- JZ-17-47-401Nitrate · 9.5 mi
- BOGATA FOODMARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.7 mi
- QUICK TRACK 18Underground Storage Tanks · 9.7 mi
- RICKEY MOORES TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- STOP N START EXPRESS 8Underground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
Measured from Talco'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 Talco.
Total Sites
11
within ~10 miles of Talco
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Talco
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Talco
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Talco
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 Talco average
Your land is one point inside Talco
Everything above resolves to Talco as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 490 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Titus 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 Talco Average
Talco Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Talco
- ●One soil character for all of Talco
- ●Frost dates read at Talco's scale: Feb 26 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Talco's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Talco
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Talco, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Talco averages can't show:
We read public map data around Talco — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Talco average
How we know this about Talco
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 Titus 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 Talco
When does frost risk typically end in Talco?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Talco typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Talco?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Talco typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 271 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Talco?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Talco sees about 271 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 10, about 236 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Talco?
The federal record around Talco is a meaningful one — 11 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (7), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Talco?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Talco's scale — its 8b band and its 271-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Talco'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 Talco’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Talco's own scale — the 490 acres it covers and 11 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Talco's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 11 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Talco, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Talco's boundary and the 490 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~271-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Talco's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Talco has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Titus County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Talco's 490 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Titus County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Titus 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 Titus County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Talco's 490 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Talco you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 490 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Talco-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasTalco sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides