Escudilla Bonita, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Escudilla Bonita, 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 Escudilla Bonita 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 Escudilla Bonita — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Escudilla Bonita — the short answer
Escudilla Bonita, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 8K 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 6a is Escudilla Bonita's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Escudilla Bonita's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Escudilla Bonita
Each reading below is measured for Escudilla Bonita itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEscudilla Bonita runs about 151 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
MeasuredEscudilla Bonita sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Escudilla Bonita is in
Escudilla Bonita sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Temperate Sierras. That is read at Escudilla Bonita's own centroid rather than borrowed from Catron County.
What Grows in Escudilla Bonita
Every plant below cleared Escudilla Bonita's own zone 6a and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Escudilla Bonita?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Escudilla Bonita
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Escudilla Bonita. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- A-09-31 10BCANitrate · 6.0 mi
- A-08-31 31ADDNitrate · 6.6 mi
- A-09-30 14CCBNitrate · 8.3 mi
- A-09-30 33BCCNitrate · 9.2 mi
Measured from Escudilla Bonita'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 Escudilla Bonita.
Total Sites
8
within ~10 miles of Escudilla Bonita
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
8 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Escudilla Bonita
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Escudilla Bonita
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 Escudilla Bonita average
Your land is one point inside Escudilla Bonita
Everything above resolves to Escudilla Bonita as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 8K 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 Escudilla Bonita Average
Escudilla Bonita Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Escudilla Bonita
- ●One soil character for all of Escudilla Bonita
- ●Frost dates read at Escudilla Bonita's scale: May 15 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Escudilla Bonita's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Escudilla Bonita
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Escudilla Bonita, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Escudilla Bonita averages can't show:
We read public map data around Escudilla Bonita — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Escudilla Bonita average
How we know this about Escudilla Bonita
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 Escudilla Bonita’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 Escudilla Bonita
When does frost risk typically end in Escudilla Bonita?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Escudilla Bonita typically lands around May 15, 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 Jun 5.
When is the first frost in Escudilla Bonita?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Escudilla Bonita typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Escudilla Bonita?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Escudilla Bonita sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 15 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 5 to Sep 29, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Escudilla Bonita?
The federal record around Escudilla Bonita is light — 8 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (8), the nearest Nitrate record about 6.0 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 Escudilla Bonita?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Escudilla Bonita's scale — its 6a band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Escudilla Bonita'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 Escudilla Bonita’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Escudilla Bonita's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,782 acres it covers and 8 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Escudilla Bonita's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Escudilla Bonita's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 15 and Oct 13 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 8 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Escudilla Bonita, the closest Nitrate record about 6.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Escudilla Bonita's boundary and the 7,782 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Escudilla Bonita's own centroid, the Arizona/New Mexico MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Escudilla Bonita's 7,782 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Catron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Catron 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 Catron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Escudilla Bonita's 7,782 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Escudilla Bonita you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,782 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 6.0 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 Escudilla Bonita-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Wider growing context
What grows across New MexicoEscudilla Bonita sits outside our named growing regions, so New Mexico as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides