Winchester, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Winchester, 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 Winchester 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 Winchester — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Winchester — the short answer
Winchester, Nevada: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Clark County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Clark County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- Clark County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Clark County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Winchester's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Winchester's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Winchester
Each reading below is measured for Winchester itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWinchester runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from Clark County, the closest normal to Winchester) — 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
MeasuredWinchester sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Winchester is in
Winchester sits in the Mojave Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Winchester's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clark County.
What Grows in Winchester
Every plant below cleared Winchester's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Winchester?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — 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 Winchester
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Winchester. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Rebel Oil Co #45Underground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- 7-Eleven #27361 - ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- Vencor Las Vegas Health CareUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- IDEAL DENTAL LLCBrownfields · 750 ft
- Sunrise Hospital LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- SUNRISE HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL CENTER LLCBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Sunrise Hospital & Medical CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Same As 8-001757/1758/1759Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Rebel Oil Co #17 - ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Regency Towers Assoc IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- LAS VEGAS PAVINGToxics Release Inventory · 2000 ft
- Smog BustersUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Winchester'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 Winchester.
Total Sites
2,985
within ~10 miles of Winchester
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
11 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Winchester
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Winchester
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Winchester
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 Winchester average
Your land is one point inside Winchester
Everything above resolves to Winchester as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clark 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 Winchester Average
Winchester Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Winchester
- ●One soil character for all of Winchester
- ●Frost dates read at Winchester's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Winchester's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Winchester
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Winchester, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Winchester averages can't show:
We read public map data around Winchester — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Winchester average
How we know this about Winchester
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 Clark 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 Winchester
When does frost risk typically end in Winchester?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Winchester typically lands around Jan 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Winchester?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Winchester typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Winchester?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Winchester sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Nov 28, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Winchester?
The federal record around Winchester runs heavier than most — 2,985 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,557), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Winchester?
From about Nov 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Winchester's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Winchester'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 Winchester’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Winchester's own scale — the 3,173 acres it covers and 2,985 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Winchester's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,985 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Winchester, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Winchester's boundary and the 3,173 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Winchester's own centroid, the Mojave Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Winchester has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clark County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Winchester's 3,173 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clark County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clark County
- The growing challenges every Nevada grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nevada
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Clark County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Winchester's 3,173 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Winchester you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,173 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Winchester-wide figureread your own land →
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