Western Lake, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Western Lake, 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 Western Lake 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 Western Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Western Lake — the short answer
Western Lake, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 249 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 12
- Parker County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 16
- Parker County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~249
- Parker County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Parker County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Western Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Western Lake's 249-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Western Lake
Each reading below is measured for Western Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWestern Lake runs about 249 days between hard freezes (read from Parker County, the closest normal to Western Lake) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWestern Lake 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 Western Lake is in
Western Lake sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Western Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Parker County.
What Grows in Western Lake
Every plant below cleared Western Lake's own zone 8a and its 249-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Western Lake?
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 Feb 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Western Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Western Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAMILY DOLLAR # 11127Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- CODYS MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- BURNETT RANCHESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- CITY OF HUDSON OAKSPFAS · 3.6 mi
- CITY OF WILLOW PARKPFAS · 3.6 mi
- WOODS PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- ANDERSON DAVID FUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- IESI WEATHERFORD LANDFILLToxics Release Inventory · 6.9 mi
- RIM MANUFACTURING LLCToxics Release Inventory · 7.3 mi
- PILOT TRAVEL CENTER 206Underground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- HOME DEPOT STORE 6515Brownfields · 7.4 mi
- TRUCK N TRAVELUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Western Lake'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 Western Lake.
Total Sites
139
within ~10 miles of Western Lake
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Western Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Western Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Western Lake, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Western Lake — Toxics Release Inventory (13 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (99 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Western Lake
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 Western Lake average
Your land is one point inside Western Lake
Everything above resolves to Western Lake as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Parker 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 Western Lake Average
Western Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Western Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Western Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Western Lake's scale: Mar 12 to Nov 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Western Lake's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Western Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Western Lake, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Western Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Western Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Western Lake average
How we know this about Western Lake
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 Parker 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 Western Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Western Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Western Lake typically lands around Mar 12, 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 Apr 2.
When is the first frost in Western Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Western Lake typically arrives around Nov 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 2, so the watching starts about Oct 17 — about 249 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Western Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Western Lake sees about 249 frost-free days — roughly Mar 12 through Nov 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 2 to Nov 2, about 214 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Western Lake?
The federal record around Western Lake is a meaningful one — 139 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (99), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.6 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 Western Lake?
From about Oct 17 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Western Lake's scale — its 8a band and its 249-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Western Lake'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 Western Lake’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Western Lake's own scale — the 2,218 acres it covers and 139 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Western Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 139 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Western Lake, the closest Brownfields record about 1.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Western Lake's boundary and the 2,218 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~249-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Western Lake's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Western Lake has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Parker County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Western Lake's 2,218 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Parker County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Parker 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 Parker County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Western Lake's 2,218 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Western Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,218 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.6 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 Western Lake-wide figureread your own land →
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