Van Alstyne, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Van Alstyne, 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 Alstyne 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 Alstyne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Van Alstyne — the short answer
Van Alstyne, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 274 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 27
- Grayson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Grayson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~274
- Grayson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Grayson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Van Alstyne's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Van Alstyne's 274-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Van Alstyne
Each reading below is measured for Van Alstyne itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsVan Alstyne runs about 274 days between hard freezes (read from Grayson County, the closest normal to Van Alstyne) — 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 Alstyne sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Alstyne is in
Van Alstyne sits in the Texas Blackland Prairies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Van Alstyne's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grayson County.
What Grows in Van Alstyne
Every plant below cleared Van Alstyne's own zone 8a and its 274-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Van Alstyne?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — 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 Alstyne
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Van Alstyne. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LONE STAR FOOD STORE 67Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- STAR ENTERPRISEBrownfields · 1600 ft
- KWIK CHEK 32Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- VAN ALSTYNE ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- QUICK CHECK 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- AFCO AUTOMATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CITY OF VAN ALSTYNE POLICE VEHICLE BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- KANADAY TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- GTSW VAN ALSTYNE CENTRALUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- GRAYSON-COLLIN ELECTRIC COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CITY OF VAN ALSTYNEPFAS · 2.4 mi
- SOUTH GRAYSON SUDPFAS · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Van Alstyne'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 Alstyne.
Total Sites
58
within ~10 miles of Van Alstyne
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Van Alstyne
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Van Alstyne
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Van Alstyne, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Van Alstyne — PFAS (6 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (7 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Van Alstyne
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 Alstyne average
Your land is one point inside Van Alstyne
Everything above resolves to Van Alstyne as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Grayson 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 Alstyne Average
Van Alstyne Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Van Alstyne
- ●One soil character for all of Van Alstyne
- ●Frost dates read at Van Alstyne's scale: Feb 27 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Van Alstyne's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Van Alstyne
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Van Alstyne, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Van Alstyne averages can't show:
We read public map data around Van Alstyne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Van Alstyne average
How we know this about Van Alstyne
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 Grayson 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 Alstyne
When does frost risk typically end in Van Alstyne?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Van Alstyne typically lands around Feb 27, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Van Alstyne?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Van Alstyne typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 274 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Van Alstyne?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Van Alstyne sees about 274 frost-free days — roughly Feb 27 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 20 to Nov 14, about 239 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Van Alstyne?
The federal record around Van Alstyne is a meaningful one — 58 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Van Alstyne?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Van Alstyne's scale — its 8a band and its 274-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Van Alstyne'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 Alstyne’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Van Alstyne's own scale — the 3,554 acres it covers and 58 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Van Alstyne's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 58 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Van Alstyne, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Van Alstyne's boundary and the 3,554 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~274-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Van Alstyne's own centroid, the Texas Blackland PrairiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Van Alstyne has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Grayson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Van Alstyne's 3,554 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grayson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grayson 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 Grayson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Van Alstyne's 3,554 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Van Alstyne you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,554 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Van Alstyne-wide figureread your own land →
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