Duran, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Duran, 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 Duran 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 Duran — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Duran — the short answer
Duran, New Mexico: USDA zone 7a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 7a is Duran's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Duran's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Duran
Each reading below is measured for Duran itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDuran runs about 186 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredDuran sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Duran is in
Duran sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Duran's own centroid rather than borrowed from Torrance County.
What Grows in Duran
Every plant below cleared Duran's own zone 7a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Duran?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Duran
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Duran. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VAUGHN RSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 03N.15E.28.441cNitrate · 0.9 mi
- 03N.15E.28.441BNitrate · 0.9 mi
- 03N.15E.28.441ANitrate · 0.9 mi
- 03N.15E.20.310Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 03N.15E.19.220Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- 03N.15E.31.231Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- 03N.14E.35.212Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- 02N.15E.24.212Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- 03N.14E.17.132Nitrate · 7.0 mi
- 01N.15E.05.111Nitrate · 8.1 mi
- 04N.14E.19.412Nitrate · 9.8 mi
Measured from Duran'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 Duran.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Duran
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Duran
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 Duran average
Your land is one point inside Duran
Everything above resolves to Duran as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K acres. 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 Duran Average
Duran Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Duran
- ●One soil character for all of Duran
- ●Frost dates read at Duran's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Duran's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Duran
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Duran, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Duran averages can't show:
We read public map data around Duran — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Duran average
How we know this about Duran
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 Duran’s own record; 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 Duran
When does frost risk typically end in Duran?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Duran typically lands around Apr 20, 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 May 11.
When is the first frost in Duran?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Duran typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Duran?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Duran sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 9, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Duran?
The federal record around Duran is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (22), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Duran?
From about Sep 23 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 Oct 23 (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 Oct 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Duran's scale — its 7a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Duran'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 Duran’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Duran's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,003 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Duran's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Duran's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 23 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Duran, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Duran's boundary and the 3,003 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Duran's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Duran's 3,003 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Torrance County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Torrance County
- The growing challenges every New Mexico grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New Mexico
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Torrance County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Duran's 3,003 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Duran you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,003 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Duran-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoDuran sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.