Tilden, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tilden, 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 Tilden 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 Tilden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tilden — the short answer
Tilden, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 311 days between hard freezes, across 223 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 31
- McMullen County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- McMullen County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~311
- McMullen County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 223 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 McMullen County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Tilden's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tilden's 311-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tilden
Each reading below is measured for Tilden itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTilden runs about 311 days between hard freezes (read from McMullen County, the closest normal to Tilden) — 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
MeasuredTilden sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Tilden is in
Tilden sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Tilden's own centroid rather than borrowed from McMullen County.
What Grows in Tilden
Every plant below cleared Tilden's own zone 9a and its 311-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tilden?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — 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 Tilden
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tilden. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SU-78-36-204Nitrate · 300 ft
- SU-78-36-201Nitrate · 500 ft
- WHEELERS MERCANTILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- MAXS CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- PILOT TRAVEL CENTER 1002Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CORNER STORE 1498Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- TXDOT TILDENUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SU-78-36-203Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- SAYLEE SALT WATER DISPOSALBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- SU-78-36-902Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- TRANS-JEFF CHEMICAL COToxics Release Inventory · 3.7 mi
- SU-78-37-103Nitrate · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tilden'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 Tilden.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Tilden
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tilden
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tilden
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tilden, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Tilden. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Tilden
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 Tilden average
Your land is one point inside Tilden
Everything above resolves to Tilden as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 223 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from McMullen 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 Tilden Average
Tilden Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Tilden
- ●One soil character for all of Tilden
- ●Frost dates read at Tilden's scale: Jan 31 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tilden's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tilden
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tilden, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tilden averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tilden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tilden average
How we know this about Tilden
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 McMullen 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 Tilden
When does frost risk typically end in Tilden?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tilden typically lands around Jan 31, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Tilden?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tilden typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 311 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tilden?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tilden sees about 311 frost-free days — roughly Jan 31 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 21 to Nov 24, about 276 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tilden?
The federal record around Tilden is light — 49 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (34), the nearest Nitrate 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 Tilden?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tilden's scale — its 9a band and its 311-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tilden'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 Tilden’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Tilden's own scale — the 223 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tilden's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tilden, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tilden's boundary and the 223 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~311-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tilden's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Tilden has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom McMullen County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tilden's 223 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McMullen County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McMullen 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 McMullen County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tilden's 223 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tilden you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 223 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Tilden-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasTilden sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides