Zephyr, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Zephyr, 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 Zephyr 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 Zephyr — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Zephyr — the short answer
Zephyr, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 970 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- Brown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 20
- Brown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Brown County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 970 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 Brown County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Zephyr's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Zephyr's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Zephyr
Each reading below is measured for Zephyr itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsZephyr runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Brown County, the closest normal to Zephyr) — 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
MeasuredZephyr 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 Zephyr is in
Zephyr sits in the Cross Timbers — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Zephyr's own centroid rather than borrowed from Brown County.
What Grows in Zephyr
Every plant below cleared Zephyr's own zone 8b and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Zephyr?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 20 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Zephyr
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Zephyr. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ZEPHYR ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- ZEPHYR WSCPFAS · 1.8 mi
- BROWN TEX FEEDLOTCAFO · 8.1 mi
- SPECK CATTLECAFO · 8.2 mi
- FOOD MART 8Underground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- CHAMBERS PUMP SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.8 mi
- BLANKET ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.8 mi
- BROWN COUNTY BRICKUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.8 mi
- GATOR PUMPUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.8 mi
- WOODLAND HEIGHTS AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- U.S. ARMY CAMP BOWIEToxics Release Inventory · 9.9 mi
- SMITH PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
2 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Zephyr'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 Zephyr.
Total Sites
14
within ~10 miles of Zephyr
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Zephyr
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Zephyr
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
- •PFAS do not break down in groundwater. Irrigate from a tested source.
Check your specific parcel in Zephyr
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 Zephyr average
Your land is one point inside Zephyr
Everything above resolves to Zephyr as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 970 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Brown 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 Zephyr Average
Zephyr Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Zephyr
- ●One soil character for all of Zephyr
- ●Frost dates read at Zephyr's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Zephyr's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Zephyr
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Zephyr, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Zephyr averages can't show:
We read public map data around Zephyr — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Zephyr average
How we know this about Zephyr
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 Brown 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 Zephyr
When does frost risk typically end in Zephyr?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Zephyr typically lands around Mar 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 Mar 24.
When is the first frost in Zephyr?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Zephyr typically arrives around Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 6, so the watching starts about Oct 21 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Zephyr?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Zephyr sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 6, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Zephyr?
The federal record around Zephyr shows 14 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Zephyr?
From about Oct 21 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Zephyr's scale — its 8b band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Zephyr'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 Zephyr’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Zephyr's own scale — the 970 acres it covers and 14 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Zephyr's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 14 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Zephyr, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Zephyr's boundary and the 970 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Zephyr's own centroid, the Cross TimbersUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Zephyr has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Brown County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Zephyr's 970 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Brown County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Brown 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 Brown County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Zephyr's 970 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Zephyr you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 970 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Zephyr-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasZephyr sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.