Waskom, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waskom, 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 Waskom 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 Waskom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Waskom — the short answer
Waskom, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 286 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Harrison County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~286
- Harrison 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 Harrison County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Waskom's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waskom's 286-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waskom
Each reading below is measured for Waskom itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWaskom runs about 286 days between hard freezes (read from Harrison County, the closest normal to Waskom) — 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
MeasuredWaskom 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 Waskom is in
Waskom sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Waskom's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harrison County.
What Grows in Waskom
Every plant below cleared Waskom'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 Waskom?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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. 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 Waskom
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waskom. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CARL J HALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ABANDONED SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- WASKOM GAS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 2600 ft
- FUTCH TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- OREAS CITGOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #5311Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- WASKOM TELEPONE CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MOTIVA WASKOM TERMINALBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- WASKOM TERMINALUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- WASKOM AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EXXONMOBIL WASKOM TERMINALToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- GRAB N GO FOOD MART 5Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waskom'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 Waskom.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waskom
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waskom
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waskom, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Waskom. 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.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Waskom
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 Waskom average
Your land is one point inside Waskom
Everything above resolves to Waskom as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Harrison 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 Waskom Average
Waskom Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Waskom
- ●One soil character for all of Waskom
- ●Frost dates read at Waskom's scale: Feb 18 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waskom's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waskom
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waskom, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waskom averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waskom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waskom average
How we know this about Waskom
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 Harrison 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 Waskom
When does frost risk typically end in Waskom?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waskom 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 Waskom?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waskom 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 Waskom?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waskom 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 Waskom?
The federal record around Waskom is a meaningful one — 154 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (52), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Waskom?
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 Waskom's scale — its 8b band and its 286-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waskom'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 Waskom’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Waskom's own scale — the 1,715 acres it covers and 154 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waskom's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 154 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waskom, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waskom's boundary and the 1,715 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 Waskom's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Waskom has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Harrison County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waskom's 1,715 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harrison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harrison 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 Harrison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waskom's 1,715 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waskom you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,715 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 Waskom-wide figureread your own land →
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