Tiki Island, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tiki Island, 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 Tiki Island 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 Tiki Island — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tiki Island — the short answer
Tiki Island, Texas: USDA zone 10a, about 311 days between hard freezes, across 305 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 20
- Galveston County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Galveston County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~311
- Galveston County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 305 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 Galveston County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Tiki Island's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tiki Island's 311-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tiki Island
Each reading below is measured for Tiki Island itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTiki Island runs about 311 days between hard freezes (read from Galveston County, the closest normal to Tiki Island) — 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
MeasuredTiki Island sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
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 Tiki Island is in
Tiki Island sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Tiki Island's own centroid rather than borrowed from Galveston County.
What Grows in Tiki Island
Every plant below cleared Tiki Island's own zone 10a and its 311-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tiki Island?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Tiki Island
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tiki Island. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TEAKWOOD MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TIKI FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- AFCO NO 10504Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- T & T MARINE SALVAGEBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- MALONE SERVICE CO - SWAN LAKE PLANTSuperfund · 2.6 mi
- DISPOSE ALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- PLEASURE ISLAND FISHING CAMPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- GALVESTON COUNTY MUD NO 12Underground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- BLENPAC SERVICESToxics Release Inventory · 2.7 mi
- RCS EMERGENCY SERVICESBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- EZ FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- FIRST STOP FOOD STORE 27Underground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tiki Island'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 Tiki Island.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tiki Island
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tiki Island
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tiki Island, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Tiki Island — Superfund (10 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (46 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Tiki Island
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 Tiki Island average
Your land is one point inside Tiki Island
Everything above resolves to Tiki Island as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 305 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Galveston 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 Tiki Island Average
Tiki Island Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Tiki Island
- ●One soil character for all of Tiki Island
- ●Frost dates read at Tiki Island's scale: Jan 20 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tiki Island's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tiki Island
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tiki Island, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tiki Island averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tiki Island — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tiki Island average
How we know this about Tiki Island
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 Galveston 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 Tiki Island
When does frost risk typically end in Tiki Island?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tiki Island typically lands around Jan 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 Feb 10.
When is the first frost in Tiki Island?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tiki Island 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 311 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tiki Island?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tiki Island sees about 311 frost-free days — roughly Jan 20 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 10 to Nov 13, about 276 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tiki Island?
The federal record around Tiki Island runs heavier than most — 631 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (432), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Tiki Island?
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 Tiki Island's scale — its 10a band and its 311-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tiki Island'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 Tiki Island’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Tiki Island's own scale — the 305 acres it covers and 631 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tiki Island's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 631 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tiki Island, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tiki Island's boundary and the 305 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~311-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tiki Island's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Tiki Island has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Galveston County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tiki Island's 305 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Galveston County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Galveston 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 Galveston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tiki Island's 305 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tiki Island you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 305 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Tiki Island-wide figureread your own land →
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