Red Rock, Arizona, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include jalapeno, palo verde, date palm, and prickly pear; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Red Rock, 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 Red Rock 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 Red Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Red Rock — the short answer
Red Rock, Arizona: USDA zone 9a, about 327 days between hard freezes, across 30K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 23
- Pinal County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 16
- Pinal County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~327
- Pinal County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 30K 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 Pinal County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Red Rock's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Red Rock's 327-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Red Rock
Each reading below is measured for Red Rock itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRed Rock runs about 327 days between hard freezes (read from Pinal County, the closest normal to Red Rock) — 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
MeasuredRed Rock 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 Red Rock is in
Red Rock sits in the Sonoran Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Red Rock's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pinal County.
What Grows in Red Rock
Plants matched to Red Rock's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Red Rock?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 16 — 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.
Documented around Red Rock
Survey cells within 31 miles of Red Rock checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 339 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Red Rock
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Red Rock. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- D-10-09 10AAD2Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- D-09-09 34DDDNitrate · 2.3 mi
- RED ROCK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- KERR MCGEE CORP/GRAVES OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- D-10-10 05DADNitrate · 2.8 mi
- BOB TEXACO STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- MARANA AEROSPACE SOLUTIONS LLCBrownfields · 3.5 mi
- D-10-09 08DDANitrate · 3.5 mi
- SILVERBELL ARMY HELIPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- APS - SAGUARO POWER PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE CO SAGUARO POWER PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 4.3 mi
- ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE CO SAGUARO POWER PLANTBrownfields · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Red Rock'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 Red Rock.
Total Sites
68
within ~10 miles of Red Rock
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Red Rock
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Red Rock
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Red Rock, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Red Rock — Nitrate (36 sites) and Mining (6 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Red Rock
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 Red Rock average
Your land is one point inside Red Rock
Everything above resolves to Red Rock as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 30K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pinal 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 Red Rock Average
Red Rock Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Red Rock
- ●One soil character for all of Red Rock
- ●Frost dates read at Red Rock's scale: Jan 23 to Dec 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Red Rock's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Red Rock
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Red Rock, Arizona — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Red Rock averages can't show:
We read public map data around Red Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Red Rock average
How we know this about Red Rock
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 Pinal 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 Red Rock
When does frost risk typically end in Red Rock?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Red Rock typically lands around Jan 23, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Red Rock?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Red Rock typically arrives around Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 2, so the watching starts about Nov 16 — about 327 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Red Rock?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Red Rock sees about 327 frost-free days — roughly Jan 23 through Dec 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 13 to Dec 2, about 292 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Red Rock?
The federal record around Red Rock shows 68 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (36), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.5 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 Red Rock?
From about Nov 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Red Rock's scale — its 9a band and its 327-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Red Rock'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 Red Rock’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Red Rock's own scale — the 30,276 acres it covers and 68 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Red Rock's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 68 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Red Rock, the closest Nitrate record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Red Rock's boundary and the 30,276 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Red Rock's own centroid, the Sonoran Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Red Rock checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Red Rock has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pinal County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Red Rock's 30,276 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pinal County
- The candidate plant list — Arizona's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Arizona
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pinal County
- The growing challenges every Arizona grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arizona
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Pinal County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Red Rock's 30,276 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Red Rock you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 30,276 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.5 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 Red Rock-wide figureread your own land →
More in Arizona
Growing region
Nearby growing guides