Whitney, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Whitney, 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 Whitney 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 Whitney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Whitney — the short answer
Whitney, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 24
- Hill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Hill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Hill 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 Hill County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Whitney's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whitney's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Whitney
Each reading below is measured for Whitney itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWhitney runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Hill County, the closest normal to Whitney) — 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
MeasuredWhitney 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 Whitney is in
Whitney sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Whitney's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Hill County is mostly Texas Blackland Prairies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Whitney
Every plant below cleared Whitney's own zone 8b and its 277-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Whitney?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Whitney
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Whitney. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OWENS TRANSMISSIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BLUE CHIP ICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- TIGER MART 83Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- METALWALA BROTHER 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- WHITNEY EXXON SERVICE CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- BIG WILLYS 15Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- MAW AND PAWS MERCANTILE AND COUNTRY CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #6839Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- COUNTRY INN MOTEL & RESTAURANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- JAKES CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BROOKSHIRE GROCERY 36Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- HILL COUNTY WSCPFAS · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Whitney'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 Whitney.
Total Sites
33
within ~10 miles of Whitney
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Whitney
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Whitney
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Whitney, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Whitney. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Whitney
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 Whitney average
Your land is one point inside Whitney
Everything above resolves to Whitney as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hill 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 Whitney Average
Whitney Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Whitney
- ●One soil character for all of Whitney
- ●Frost dates read at Whitney's scale: Feb 24 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whitney's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Whitney
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whitney, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whitney averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whitney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whitney average
How we know this about Whitney
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 Hill 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 Whitney
When does frost risk typically end in Whitney?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whitney typically lands around Feb 24, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Whitney?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Whitney typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Whitney?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whitney sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 24 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 17 to Nov 14, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whitney?
The federal record around Whitney shows 33 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (26), 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 Whitney?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Whitney's scale — its 8b band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whitney'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 Whitney’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Whitney's own scale — the 1,190 acres it covers and 33 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whitney's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 33 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Whitney, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Whitney's boundary and the 1,190 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~277-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Whitney sits in the Cross Timbers — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Whitney has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hill County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Whitney's 1,190 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hill County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hill 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 Hill County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Whitney's 1,190 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Whitney you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,190 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 Whitney-wide figureread your own land →
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