University Park, 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.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in University Park, 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 University Park 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 University Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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University Park — the short answer
University Park, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 294 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~294
- Dallas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Dallas County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is University Park's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against University Park's 294-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in University Park
Each reading below is measured for University Park itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsUniversity Park runs about 294 days between hard freezes (read from Dallas County, the closest normal to University Park) — 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
MeasuredUniversity Park 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 University Park is in
University Park sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at University Park's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dallas County.
What Grows in University Park
Every plant below cleared University Park's own zone 8b and its 294-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in University Park?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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 University Park
Closest first, within ~10 miles of University Park. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AGILE OILFIELD SERVICES OFFICEBrownfields · 1400 ft
- PLAZA SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- TOM THUMB STORE 1973Brownfields · 2400 ft
- THOMAS M MARINOS AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- MOBIL STATION 12 EMKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SPEEDEE OIL CHANGE & TUNE UPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- HILLCREST UNIVERSITY LANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- DUNLAP SWAIN TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- VINTAGE CAR WASH & LUBEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- DUNLAP SWAIN 12Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SHELL SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LOVERS LANE 66 18400Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from University Park'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 University Park.
Total Sites
4,368
within ~10 miles of University Park
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
36 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of University Park
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of University Park
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around University Park, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of University Park — Toxics Release Inventory (373 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (3,136 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 University Park
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 University Park average
Your land is one point inside University Park
Everything above resolves to University Park as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dallas 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 University Park Average
University Park Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across University Park
- ●One soil character for all of University Park
- ●Frost dates read at University Park's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not University Park's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in University Park
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in University Park, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that University Park averages can't show:
We read public map data around University Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the University Park average
How we know this about University Park
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 Dallas 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 University Park
When does frost risk typically end in University Park?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in University Park typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in University Park?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in University Park typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 294 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in University Park?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, University Park sees about 294 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 21, about 259 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in University Park?
The federal record around University Park is a meaningful one — 4,368 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (3,136), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 University Park?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at University Park's scale — its 8b band and its 294-day season. Your yard writes its own version of University Park'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 University Park’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at University Park's own scale — the 2,361 acres it covers and 4,368 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- University Park's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 4,368 documented contamination sites on the federal record near University Park, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- University Park's boundary and the 2,361 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~294-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at University Park's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — University Park has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dallas County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so University Park's 2,361 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dallas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dallas 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 Dallas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among University Park's 2,361 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of University Park you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,361 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 University Park-wide figureread your own land →
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