Westdale, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Westdale, 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 Westdale 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 Westdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Westdale — the short answer
Westdale, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Jim Wells County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 14
- Jim Wells County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- Jim Wells County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Jim Wells County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Westdale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Westdale's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Westdale
Each reading below is measured for Westdale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWestdale runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from Jim Wells County, the closest normal to Westdale) — 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
MeasuredWestdale sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Westdale is in
Westdale sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Westdale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jim Wells County.
What Grows in Westdale
Every plant below cleared Westdale's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Westdale?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 14 — 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 Westdale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Westdale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ORANGE GROVE ISD BUS BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- PW-83-01-514Nitrate · 3.3 mi
- FREDS SHELL STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- ORANGE GROVE MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- LOWES SUPER S 110Underground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40819Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- MARKS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- S M HERSCHAPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- CVS PHARMACY # 10841Brownfields · 3.7 mi
- O G PIT STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- RESOURCE RECYCLING SERVICESBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- VAUGHN ENERGY SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Westdale'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 Westdale.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Westdale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Westdale
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Westdale
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 Westdale average
Your land is one point inside Westdale
Everything above resolves to Westdale as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jim Wells 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 Westdale Average
Westdale Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Westdale
- ●One soil character for all of Westdale
- ●Frost dates read at Westdale's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Westdale's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Westdale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Westdale, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Westdale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Westdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Westdale average
How we know this about Westdale
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 Jim Wells 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 Westdale
When does frost risk typically end in Westdale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Westdale typically lands around Jan 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 Feb 17.
When is the first frost in Westdale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Westdale typically arrives around Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 30, so the watching starts about Nov 14 — about 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Westdale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Westdale sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Nov 30, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Westdale?
The federal record around Westdale is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (11), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.2 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 Westdale?
From about Nov 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Westdale's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Westdale'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 Westdale’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Westdale's own scale — the 2,577 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Westdale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Westdale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Westdale's boundary and the 2,577 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Westdale's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Westdale has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jim Wells County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Westdale's 2,577 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jim Wells County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jim Wells 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 Jim Wells County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Westdale's 2,577 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Westdale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,577 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.2 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 Westdale-wide figureread your own land →
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