Temple, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Temple, 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 Temple 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 Temple — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Temple — the short answer
Temple, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 287 days between hard freezes, across 47K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Bell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Bell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~287
- Bell County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 47K 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 Bell County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Temple's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Temple's 287-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Temple
Each reading below is measured for Temple itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTemple runs about 287 days between hard freezes (read from Bell County, the closest normal to Temple) — 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
MeasuredTemple 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 Temple is in
Temple sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Temple's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bell County.
What Grows in Temple
Every plant below cleared Temple'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 Temple?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Temple
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Temple. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GARLYN SHELTON CADILLAC OLDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- 7-ELEVEN 24864Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- QUICK SHOP N GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- TEMPLE TRANSMISSIONBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- WILDFLOWER COUNTRY CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- TEMPLE TRANSMISSIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MOHAWK EQUIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MATERIALS TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- RALPH WILSON PLASTICS CO INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- ADAMS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- TEMPLE BELL DRIVE SOC XP3411Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- DIAMOND SHAMROCK 1346Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Temple'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 Temple.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Temple
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Temple
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Temple, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Temple — Toxics Release Inventory (41 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (362 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Temple
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 Temple average
Your land is one point inside Temple
Everything above resolves to Temple as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 47K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bell 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 Temple Average
Temple Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Temple
- ●One soil character for all of Temple
- ●Frost dates read at Temple's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Temple's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Temple
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Temple, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Temple averages can't show:
We read public map data around Temple — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Temple average
How we know this about Temple
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 Bell 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 Temple
When does frost risk typically end in Temple?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Temple typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Temple?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Temple typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 287 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Temple?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Temple sees about 287 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 18, about 252 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Temple?
The federal record around Temple is a meaningful one — 488 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (362), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Temple?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Temple's scale — its 8b band and its 287-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Temple'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 Temple’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Temple's own scale — the 46,746 acres it covers and 488 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Temple's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 488 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Temple, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Temple's boundary and the 46,746 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 Temple's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Temple has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bell County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Temple's 46,746 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bell 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 Bell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Temple's 46,746 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Temple you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 46,746 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Temple-wide figureread your own land →
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