Willis, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Willis, 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 Willis 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 Willis — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Willis — the short answer
Willis, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 306 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- Montgomery County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Montgomery County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~306
- Montgomery County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Montgomery County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Willis's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Willis's 306-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Willis
Each reading below is measured for Willis itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWillis runs about 306 days between hard freezes (read from Montgomery County, the closest normal to Willis) — 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
MeasuredWillis sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Willis is in
Willis sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Willis's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montgomery County.
What Grows in Willis
Every plant below cleared Willis's own zone 9a and its 306-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Willis?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Willis
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Willis. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HIXSON LUMBERToxics Release Inventory · 1000 ft
- ACS OIL RECOVERYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- RANEKIAS FASHION & BEAUTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WILLIS ISD TRANSPORTATION CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- PRIVATE COMMERCIAL BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BUDDYS MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- K&M FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40942Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GTE WILLIS CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MASTER FOOD MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- LOVES TRAVEL STOP 468Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- KROGER FUEL FACILITY 741Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Willis'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 Willis.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Willis
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Willis
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Willis, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Willis — Toxics Release Inventory (36 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (327 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 Willis
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 Willis average
Your land is one point inside Willis
Everything above resolves to Willis as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Montgomery 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 Willis Average
Willis Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Willis
- ●One soil character for all of Willis
- ●Frost dates read at Willis's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Willis's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Willis
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Willis, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Willis averages can't show:
We read public map data around Willis — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Willis average
How we know this about Willis
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 Montgomery 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 Willis
When does frost risk typically end in Willis?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Willis typically lands around Feb 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Willis?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Willis typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 306 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Willis?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Willis sees about 306 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 22, about 271 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Willis?
The federal record around Willis is a meaningful one — 463 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (327), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Willis?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Willis's scale — its 9a band and its 306-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Willis'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 Willis’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Willis's own scale — the 3,029 acres it covers and 463 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Willis's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 463 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Willis, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Willis's boundary and the 3,029 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~306-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Willis's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Willis has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Montgomery County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Willis's 3,029 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Montgomery County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Montgomery 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 Montgomery County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Willis's 3,029 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Willis you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,029 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Willis-wide figureread your own land →
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