Van, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Van, 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 Van 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 Van — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Van — the short answer
Van, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 19
- Van Zandt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Van Zandt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~284
- Van Zandt 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 Van Zandt County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Van's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Van's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Van
Each reading below is measured for Van itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsVan runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Van Zandt County, the closest normal to Van) — 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
MeasuredVan 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 Van is in
Van sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Van's own centroid rather than borrowed from Van Zandt County.
What Grows in Van
Every plant below cleared Van's own zone 8b and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Van?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Van
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Van. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VAN GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- HEMPHILL CONSTRUCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- MAIN STREET STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- GOODES TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- VAN EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- VAN ISD TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CITY OF VANPFAS · 2000 ft
- GRAB N GO FOODMART 6Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- BROOKSHIRE FOOD STORE 002Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- NEW WAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- VANS SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- LOVES TRAVEL STOP 651Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Van'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 Van.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Van
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Van
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Van, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of Van. 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 Van
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 Van average
Your land is one point inside Van
Everything above resolves to Van as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Van Zandt 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 Van Average
Van Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Van
- ●One soil character for all of Van
- ●Frost dates read at Van's scale: Feb 19 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Van's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Van
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Van, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Van averages can't show:
We read public map data around Van — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Van average
How we know this about Van
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 Van Zandt 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 Van
When does frost risk typically end in Van?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Van typically lands around Feb 19, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Van?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Van typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 284 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Van?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Van sees about 284 frost-free days — roughly Feb 19 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 12 to Nov 16, about 249 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Van?
The federal record around Van shows 51 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Van?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Van's scale — its 8b band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Van'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 Van’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Van's own scale — the 1,914 acres it covers and 51 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Van's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 51 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Van, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Van's boundary and the 1,914 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Van's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Van has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Van Zandt County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Van's 1,914 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Van Zandt County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Van Zandt 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 Van Zandt County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Van's 1,914 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Van you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,914 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Van-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasVan sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides