Waelder, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waelder, 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 Waelder 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 Waelder — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Waelder — the short answer
Waelder, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 306 days between hard freezes, across 819 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 5
- Gonzales County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Gonzales County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~306
- Gonzales County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 819 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 Gonzales County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Waelder's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waelder's 306-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waelder
Each reading below is measured for Waelder itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWaelder runs about 306 days between hard freezes (read from Gonzales County, the closest normal to Waelder) — 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
MeasuredWaelder 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 Waelder is in
Waelder sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Waelder's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gonzales County.
What Grows in Waelder
Every plant below cleared Waelder's own zone 9a and its 306-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waelder?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 5 (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. 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 Waelder
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waelder. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HYBISCUS FOODUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- WAELDER ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- GONZALES COUNTY WSCPFAS · 2500 ft
- AQUA WSCPFAS · 2500 ft
- KR-67-22-501Nitrate · 2500 ft
- KR-67-22-301Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- KR-67-22-201Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- CAL MAIN COMPLEX 1CAFO · 2.3 mi
- WAELDER SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR # 11139Brownfields · 2.7 mi
- CAL-MAINE COMPLEX 2CAFO · 3.5 mi
- KR-67-22-906Nitrate · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waelder'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 Waelder.
Total Sites
77
within ~10 miles of Waelder
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waelder
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waelder
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waelder, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Waelder — CAFO (5 sites) and Nitrate (62 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Waelder
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 Waelder average
Your land is one point inside Waelder
Everything above resolves to Waelder as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 819 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Gonzales 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 Waelder Average
Waelder Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Waelder
- ●One soil character for all of Waelder
- ●Frost dates read at Waelder's scale: Feb 5 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waelder's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waelder
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waelder, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waelder averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waelder — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waelder average
How we know this about Waelder
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 Gonzales 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 Waelder
When does frost risk typically end in Waelder?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waelder typically lands around Feb 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Waelder?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waelder 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 306 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Waelder?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waelder sees about 306 frost-free days — roughly Feb 5 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 26 to Nov 24, about 271 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Waelder?
The federal record around Waelder shows 77 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (62), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Waelder?
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 Waelder's scale — its 9a band and its 306-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waelder'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 Waelder’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Waelder's own scale — the 819 acres it covers and 77 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waelder's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 77 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waelder, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waelder's boundary and the 819 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~306-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waelder's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Waelder has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Gonzales County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waelder's 819 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gonzales County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gonzales 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 Gonzales County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waelder's 819 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waelder you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 819 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Waelder-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasWaelder sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.