Woodbranch, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Woodbranch, 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 Woodbranch 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 Woodbranch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Woodbranch — the short answer
Woodbranch, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 306 days between hard freezes, across 1K 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
- 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 Montgomery County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Woodbranch's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Woodbranch's 306-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Woodbranch
Each reading below is measured for Woodbranch itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWoodbranch runs about 306 days between hard freezes (read from Montgomery County, the closest normal to Woodbranch) — 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
MeasuredWoodbranch 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 Woodbranch is in
Woodbranch sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Woodbranch's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montgomery County.
What Grows in Woodbranch
Every plant below cleared Woodbranch'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 Woodbranch?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Woodbranch
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Woodbranch. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SPLENDORA CENTRAL OFFICE WL3689Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- J JS ONE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- RAINBOW GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SUPER K FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CORNER STORE 1905Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FLYING J TRAVEL PLAZA 734Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- C & M PATTON VILLAGE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #10162Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- RUSH 4Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- ROMAN FOREST MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- NEW CANEY MUDPFAS · 1.7 mi
- NEW CANEY FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Woodbranch'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 Woodbranch.
Total Sites
188
within ~10 miles of Woodbranch
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Woodbranch
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Woodbranch
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Woodbranch, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Woodbranch — PFAS (9 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (126 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Woodbranch
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 Woodbranch average
Your land is one point inside Woodbranch
Everything above resolves to Woodbranch as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K 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 Woodbranch Average
Woodbranch Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Woodbranch
- ●One soil character for all of Woodbranch
- ●Frost dates read at Woodbranch's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Woodbranch's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Woodbranch
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Woodbranch, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Woodbranch averages can't show:
We read public map data around Woodbranch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Woodbranch average
How we know this about Woodbranch
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 Woodbranch
When does frost risk typically end in Woodbranch?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Woodbranch 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 Woodbranch?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Woodbranch 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 Woodbranch?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Woodbranch 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 Woodbranch?
The federal record around Woodbranch is a meaningful one — 188 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (126), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Woodbranch?
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 Woodbranch's scale — its 9a band and its 306-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Woodbranch'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 Woodbranch’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Woodbranch's own scale — the 1,285 acres it covers and 188 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Woodbranch's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 188 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Woodbranch, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Woodbranch's boundary and the 1,285 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 Woodbranch's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Woodbranch 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 Woodbranch's 1,285 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 Woodbranch's 1,285 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Woodbranch you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,285 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Woodbranch-wide figureread your own land →
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