Tenaha, 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.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tenaha, 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 Tenaha 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 Tenaha — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tenaha — the short answer
Tenaha, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Shelby County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- Shelby 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 Shelby County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Tenaha's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tenaha's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tenaha
Each reading below is measured for Tenaha itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTenaha runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from Shelby County, the closest normal to Tenaha) — 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
MeasuredTenaha 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 Tenaha is in
Tenaha sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Tenaha's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shelby County.
What Grows in Tenaha
Every plant below cleared Tenaha's own zone 8b and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tenaha?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Tenaha
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tenaha. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TENAHA TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- TIGER STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- SHIRLEYS HANDI STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- EXPRESS STOP 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- TYSON SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 2200 ft
- TYSON FOOD INC TENAHA HATCHERYBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- TYSON TENAHA FEEDMILLToxics Release Inventory · 1.7 mi
- TYSON FOODS SERVICE CENTERToxics Release Inventory · 1.8 mi
- PILGRIM'S PRIDE CORP NACOGDOCHES (TENAHA) FEED MILLToxics Release Inventory · 2.2 mi
- UL-37-07-1XXNitrate · 2.8 mi
- UL-35-62-9Nitrate · 5.6 mi
- XB-37-07-3Nitrate · 5.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tenaha'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 Tenaha.
Total Sites
39
within ~10 miles of Tenaha
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tenaha
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tenaha
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tenaha, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Tenaha — Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (24 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Tenaha
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 Tenaha average
Your land is one point inside Tenaha
Everything above resolves to Tenaha as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Shelby 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 Tenaha Average
Tenaha Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Tenaha
- ●One soil character for all of Tenaha
- ●Frost dates read at Tenaha's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tenaha's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tenaha
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tenaha, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tenaha averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tenaha — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tenaha average
How we know this about Tenaha
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 Shelby 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 Tenaha
When does frost risk typically end in Tenaha?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tenaha typically lands around Feb 20, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Tenaha?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tenaha typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tenaha?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tenaha sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 15, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tenaha?
The federal record around Tenaha is light — 39 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Tenaha?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tenaha's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tenaha'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 Tenaha’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Tenaha's own scale — the 2,396 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tenaha's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tenaha, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tenaha's boundary and the 2,396 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tenaha's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Tenaha has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Shelby County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tenaha's 2,396 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shelby County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shelby 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 Shelby County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tenaha's 2,396 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tenaha you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,396 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Tenaha-wide figureread your own land →
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