Roy, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Roy, 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 Roy 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 Roy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Roy — the short answer
Roy, New Mexico: USDA zone 6b, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 6b is Roy's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Roy's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Roy
Each reading below is measured for Roy itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRoy runs about 189 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
MeasuredRoy sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Roy is in
Roy sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Roy's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harding County.
What Grows in Roy
Every plant below cleared Roy's own zone 6b and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Roy?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Roy
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Roy. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 20N.26E.20.414Nitrate · 200 ft
- ROY FUEL STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- 20N.26E.20.244Nitrate · 1900 ft
- ARAGON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 20N.26E.23.323Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- 20N.26E.26.411Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- 20N.26E.23.424Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- 20N.26E.03.141Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 19N.26E.15.234Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 21N.26E.21.413Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- NMDOT ROY PATROL YARD 44 57Underground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- PORTERFIELD HNUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
3 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Roy'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 Roy.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Roy
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Roy, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of Roy. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Roy
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 Roy average
Your land is one point inside Roy
Everything above resolves to Roy as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Roy Average
Roy Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Roy
- ●One soil character for all of Roy
- ●Frost dates read at Roy's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Roy's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Roy
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Roy, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Roy averages can't show:
We read public map data around Roy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Roy average
How we know this about Roy
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 Roy’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 Roy
When does frost risk typically end in Roy?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Roy typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Roy?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Roy typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Roy?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Roy sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 11, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Roy?
The federal record around Roy is light — 25 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (20), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Roy?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Roy's scale — its 6b band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Roy'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 Roy’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Roy's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,308 acres it covers and 25 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Roy's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Roy's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 25 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 25 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Roy, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Roy's boundary and the 1,308 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Roy's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Roy's 1,308 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harding County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harding 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 Harding County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Roy's 1,308 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Roy you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,308 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Roy-wide figureread your own land →
More in New Mexico
Nearby growing guides