Gardening in Longview, TX
Every ZIP code in this metro is USDA zone 8b. That is unusual — most metros span several zones — and it means the one number people usually look up is the same wherever you are here.
Your freeze dates
Those are the earliest and latest medians among the 12 stations serving this metro — not an average, and not one station standing in for the rest. Half of years freeze later than a station's own median.
The spread is the point. Even in a metro that is one hardiness zone throughout, its stations disagree about the last spring freeze. Hardiness zone and frost date measure different things — a zone is the average annual coldest night, a freeze date is when the season turns — and a place can be uniform in one and varied in the other. Use the tools below with your own ZIP rather than the ends of this range.
Your growing season
NOAA publishes a growing-season length for each station, and across the 12 stations serving Longview, TX it runs 229–263 days . That figure is published, not computed from the two freeze dates — subtracting one from the other gives the wrong answer wherever a season crosses New Year. Mean summer high (June–August) runs 90–94 °F , at or above the 90 °F point where cool-season crops bolt and tomato and pepper pollen fails — so midsummer sowings of lettuce and its relatives are worth holding here.
When to start seeds in Longview, TX
Every spring job for 63 crop dates, counted from this metro's own last spring freeze. Each is a range across all 12 stations — the earliest and latest that job falls anywhere in the metro — because no one station speaks for the whole area.
| Crop | Job | When | Offset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Onions | Start indoors | January 9 – January 29 | 8 weeks before |
| Peppers | Start indoors | January 9 – January 29 | 8 weeks before |
| Broccoli | Start indoors | January 23 – February 12 | 6 weeks before |
| Cabbage | Start indoors | January 23 – February 12 | 6 weeks before |
| Collards | Start indoors | January 23 – February 12 | 6 weeks before |
| Kale | Start indoors | January 23 – February 12 | 6 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Start indoors | January 23 – February 12 | 6 weeks before |
| Peas | Direct sow | January 23 – February 12 | 6 weeks before |
| Spinach | Direct sow | January 23 – February 12 | 6 weeks before |
| Sweet Potato | Start indoors | January 23 – February 12 | 6 weeks before |
| Tomatoes | Start indoors | January 23 – February 12 | 6 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Start indoors | January 30 – February 19 | 5 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Start indoors | January 30 – February 19 | 5 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Start indoors | January 30 – February 19 | 5 weeks before |
| Arugula | Direct sow | February 6 – February 26 | 4 weeks before |
| Baby Salad Greens | Direct sow | February 6 – February 26 | 4 weeks before |
| Beets | Direct sow | February 6 – February 26 | 4 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Direct sow | February 6 – February 26 | 4 weeks before |
| Mustard Greens | Direct sow | February 6 – February 26 | 4 weeks before |
| Okra | Start indoors | February 6 – February 26 | 4 weeks before |
| Radishes | Direct sow | February 6 – February 26 | 4 weeks before |
| Turnips | Direct sow | February 6 – February 26 | 4 weeks before |
| Cabbage | Set out | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Carrots | Direct sow | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Collards | Direct sow | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Collards | Set out | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Cucumbers | Start indoors | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Set out | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Kale | Direct sow | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Kale | Set out | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Direct sow | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Set out | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Direct sow | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Pumpkins | Start indoors | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Summer Squash | Start indoors | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Winter Squash | Start indoors | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Zucchini | Start indoors | February 13 – March 5 | 3 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Direct sow | February 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Set out | February 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks before |
| Broccoli | Set out | February 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks before |
| Cilantro | Direct sow | February 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Set out | February 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Direct sow | February 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Set out | February 20 – March 12 | 2 weeks before |
| Dill | Direct sow | February 27 – March 19 | 1 week before |
| Bush Beans | Direct sow | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Cucumbers | Set out | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Pumpkins | Direct sow | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Pumpkins | Set out | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Summer Squash | Direct sow | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Summer Squash | Set out | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Sweet Corn | Direct sow | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Tomatoes | Set out | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Winter Squash | Direct sow | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Winter Squash | Set out | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Zucchini | Direct sow | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Zucchini | Set out | March 13 – April 2 | 1 week after |
| Cucumbers | Direct sow | March 20 – April 9 | 2 weeks after |
| Okra | Direct sow | March 20 – April 9 | 2 weeks after |
| Okra | Set out | March 20 – April 9 | 2 weeks after |
| Peppers | Set out | March 20 – April 9 | 2 weeks after |
| Southern Peas | Direct sow | March 20 – April 9 | 2 weeks after |
| Sweet Potato | Set out | March 20 – April 9 | 2 weeks after |
The week offsets are conventional extension guidance and vary by variety; the freeze dates they are counted from are measured. For a single date rather than a range, run when do I start my seeds? with your own ZIP code.
What lives through a zone 8b winter
Winter hardiness runs on the zone alone, so this one is exact for the whole of Longview, TX rather than a range. Of 74 perennial fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and herbs, 54 come through a zone 8b winter — the other 20 fail, and not all of them for cold.
Among them: Apple, Aronia, Elderberry, Asparagus, Horseradish, Sunchoke, Walking Onion, Chives. See the full list with reasons.
The 12 stations behind these numbers
Every figure above comes from these, and each is named so you can check it. Distances vary by ZIP code, so the tools report yours rather than this page guessing.
| Station | NOAA ID | Last spring freeze | First fall freeze | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daingerfield 9 S, TX | USC00412225 | March 8 | November 22 | 259 days |
| Diana 2 W, TX | USC00412446 | March 10 | November 15 | 251 days |
| Gilmer 4 Wnw, TX | USC00413546 | March 26 | November 8 | 229 days |
| Hallsville 4 S, TX | USC00413877 | March 15 | November 15 | 245 days |
| Henderson, TX | USC00414081 | March 15 | November 16 | 247 days |
| Jefferson, TX | USC00414577 | March 18 | November 8 | 236 days |
| Longview #2, TX | USC00415344 | March 7 | November 23 | 260 days |
| Longview E Tx Rgnl AP, TX | USW00003901 | March 8 | November 17 | 251 days |
| Longview Wsmo, TX | USW00003951 | March 11 | November 17 | 250 days |
| Marshall, TX | USC00415618 | March 20 | November 11 | 233 days |
| Mooringsport 1 N, LA | USC00166364 | March 6 | November 19 | 257 days |
| Rusk, TX | USC00417841 | March 7 | November 25 | 263 days |
These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.
Work out your own dates
Each of these takes a ZIP code and answers for that ZIP alone, citing the station it used and how far away it is. There is a ZIP box in the header of every page.
- What survives my winter?
Runs on the hardiness zone, so it answers for all of Longview, TX at once — zone 8b across 74 perennial fruits, berries, vegetables and herbs.
- When do I start my seeds?
Dates every spring job from your own last freeze — sow indoors, set out, direct sow.
- When do I sow the next round?
How often each crop is worth re-sowing, and when the next sowing is due.
- What can I still plant?
Counts the growing days left before your first fall freeze, crop by crop.
Where these numbers come from
The hardiness zone is the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. The freeze dates are NOAA's 1991–2020 Climate Normals, read from every station whose normals cover a ZIP code in this metro. Nothing here is estimated, and no station stands in for another.
This page names no single station on purpose. Picking one to represent a metro sounds reasonable and is not: the station serving the most ZIP codes is an artifact of where ZIP centroids happen to fall, and it selects a lock on the Monongahela for Pittsburgh and a far southern suburb for Chicago. A range across every station is true; a single cited date for a whole metro is not.