Terrell, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Terrell, 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 Terrell 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 Terrell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Terrell — the short answer
Terrell, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 280 days between hard freezes, across 21K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 20
- Kaufman County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Kaufman County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~280
- Kaufman County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 21K 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 Kaufman County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Terrell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Terrell's 280-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Terrell
Each reading below is measured for Terrell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTerrell runs about 280 days between hard freezes (read from Kaufman County, the closest normal to Terrell) — 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
MeasuredTerrell 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 Terrell is in
Terrell sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Terrell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kaufman County.
What Grows in Terrell
Every plant below cleared Terrell's own zone 8b and its 280-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Terrell?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 27 — 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 Terrell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Terrell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TERREL FARM SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- AZZ SURFACE TECHNOLOGIES TERRELLBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- STARR CHEVROLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MUSSER PONTIAC GMC BUICKBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- HILLTOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BROOKSHIRE GROCERY 23Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MURPHY USA 5725Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER 265Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER 265Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- WAL-MART STORE 265Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MUSSER MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- VALERO CORNER STORE 3572Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Terrell'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 Terrell.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Terrell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Terrell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Terrell, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Terrell — PFAS (11 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (29 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Terrell
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 Terrell average
Your land is one point inside Terrell
Everything above resolves to Terrell as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 21K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Kaufman 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 Terrell Average
Terrell Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Terrell
- ●One soil character for all of Terrell
- ●Frost dates read at Terrell's scale: Feb 20 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Terrell's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Terrell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Terrell, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Terrell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Terrell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Terrell average
How we know this about Terrell
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 Kaufman 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 Terrell
When does frost risk typically end in Terrell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Terrell 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 Terrell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Terrell typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 280 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Terrell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Terrell sees about 280 frost-free days — roughly Feb 20 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 13 to Nov 13, about 245 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Terrell?
The federal record around Terrell runs heavier than most — 265 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (175), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Terrell?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Terrell's scale — its 8b band and its 280-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Terrell'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 Terrell’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Terrell's own scale — the 21,249 acres it covers and 265 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Terrell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 265 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Terrell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Terrell's boundary and the 21,249 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~280-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Terrell's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Terrell has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Kaufman County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Terrell's 21,249 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kaufman County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kaufman 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 Kaufman County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Terrell's 21,249 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Terrell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 21,249 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 Terrell-wide figureread your own land →
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