Wells, 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 Wells, 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 Wells 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 Wells — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wells — the short answer
Wells, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Cherokee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Cherokee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- Cherokee County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Cherokee County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Wells's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wells's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wells
Each reading below is measured for Wells itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWells runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from Cherokee County, the closest normal to Wells) — 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
MeasuredWells 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 Wells is in
Wells sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Wells's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cherokee County.
What Grows in Wells
Every plant below cleared Wells's own zone 8b and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wells?
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 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 2 — 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 Wells
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wells. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BROOKSHIRE BROTHERS 15Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- FORMER JESUS NAME APOSTOLIC TABERNACLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- R & R MERCANTILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- BROOKSHIRE BROTHERS 113Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- CENTRAL WCID OF ANGELINA COUNTYPFAS · 4.7 mi
- REDDS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- LILLIE MAES GROCERY 2Underground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- HICKS POST CO INCToxics Release Inventory · 9.0 mi
- CENTRAL ISD TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.1 mi
- LEO HICKS CREOSOTING CO INCToxics Release Inventory · 9.6 mi
- LEO HICKS CREOSOTING CO INCBrownfields · 9.6 mi
- BROOKSHIRE BROTHERS 03Underground Storage Tanks · 9.7 mi
Measured from Wells'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 Wells.
Total Sites
12
within ~10 miles of Wells
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wells
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wells
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Wells
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 Wells average
Your land is one point inside Wells
Everything above resolves to Wells as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Cherokee County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Wells Average
Wells Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Wells
- ●One soil character for all of Wells
- ●Frost dates read at Wells's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wells's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wells
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wells, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wells averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wells — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wells average
How we know this about Wells
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Cherokee 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Wells
When does frost risk typically end in Wells?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wells 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 Wells?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wells typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wells?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wells sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 18, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wells?
The federal record around Wells is light — 12 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (8), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Wells?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wells's scale — its 8b band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wells'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 Wells’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Wells's own scale — the 1,226 acres it covers and 12 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wells's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 12 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wells, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wells's boundary and the 1,226 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wells's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Wells has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Cherokee County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wells's 1,226 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cherokee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cherokee 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 Cherokee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wells's 1,226 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wells you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,226 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Wells-wide figureread your own land →
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