Tyler, 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.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tyler, 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 Tyler 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 Tyler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Tyler — the short answer
Tyler, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 37K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Smith County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Smith County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- Smith County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 37K 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 Smith County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Tyler's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tyler's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tyler
Each reading below is measured for Tyler itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTyler runs about 286 days between hard freezes (read from Smith County, the closest normal to Tyler) — 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
MeasuredTyler 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 Tyler is in
Tyler sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Tyler's own centroid rather than borrowed from Smith County.
What Grows in Tyler
Every plant below cleared Tyler's own zone 8b and its 286-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tyler?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 1 — 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 Tyler
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tyler. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FORMER DETAIL MASTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- U S POSTAL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- SUPER LUBEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- KIDD JONES 4Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- THE PEP BOYS TYLER # 0787 TXBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- CORNER MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CITY OF TYLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #TXTYL1B01Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- FACILITY SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- STEWARTS DONNYBROOK AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BROOKSHIRE GROCERY 9Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MIDAS MUFFLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tyler'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 Tyler.
Total Sites
736
within ~10 miles of Tyler
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tyler
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tyler
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tyler, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 590 sites within ~10 miles of Tyler. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Tyler
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 Tyler average
Your land is one point inside Tyler
Everything above resolves to Tyler as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 37K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Smith 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 Tyler Average
Tyler Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Tyler
- ●One soil character for all of Tyler
- ●Frost dates read at Tyler's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tyler's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tyler
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tyler, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tyler averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tyler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tyler average
How we know this about Tyler
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 Smith 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 Tyler
When does frost risk typically end in Tyler?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tyler 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 Tyler?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tyler typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 286 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tyler?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tyler sees about 286 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 17, about 251 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tyler?
The federal record around Tyler is a meaningful one — 736 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (590), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Tyler?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tyler's scale — its 8b band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tyler'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 Tyler’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Tyler's own scale — the 36,986 acres it covers and 736 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tyler's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 736 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tyler, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tyler's boundary and the 36,986 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~286-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tyler's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Tyler has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Smith County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tyler's 36,986 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Smith County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Smith 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 Smith County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tyler's 36,986 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tyler you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 36,986 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Tyler-wide figureread your own land →
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