Hugo, Oklahoma, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hugo, 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 Hugo 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 Hugo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hugo — the short answer
Hugo, Oklahoma: USDA zone 8a, about 268 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~268
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 4K 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 8a is Hugo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hugo's 268-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hugo
Each reading below is measured for Hugo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHugo runs about 268 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredHugo sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Hugo is in
Hugo sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hugo's own centroid rather than borrowed from Choctaw County.
What Grows in Hugo
Every plant below cleared Hugo's own zone 8a and its 268-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oklahoma profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hugo?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Hugo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hugo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Hugo Office & Operating CtrUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Hopkins SalesUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Curtis Kerr-McgeeUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Housing Authority of the Choctaw NationUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Road Runner Tire IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Ed Wallace Ford Mercury, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Co A (-) 1/180 InfUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Hill & Son Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Bill RogersUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Main Quick MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- E-Z Mart #4227Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- A V CrewsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hugo'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 Hugo.
Total Sites
61
within ~10 miles of Hugo
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hugo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hugo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hugo, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 51 sites within ~10 miles of Hugo. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Hugo
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 Hugo average
Your land is one point inside Hugo
Everything above resolves to Hugo as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 city 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 Hugo Average
Hugo Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Hugo
- ●One soil character for all of Hugo
- ●Frost dates read at Hugo's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hugo's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hugo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hugo, Oklahoma — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hugo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hugo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hugo average
How we know this about Hugo
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Hugo’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Hugo
When does frost risk typically end in Hugo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hugo typically lands around Feb 28, 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 Mar 21.
When is the first frost in Hugo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hugo typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 268 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hugo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hugo sees about 268 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 9, about 233 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hugo?
The federal record around Hugo shows 61 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (51), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Hugo?
From about Oct 24 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 Nov 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 Nov 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hugo's scale — its 8a band and its 268-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hugo'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 Hugo’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hugo's own scale — its own ~268-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,038 acres it covers and 61 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hugo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hugo's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Feb 28 and Nov 23 and the ~268-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 61 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hugo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hugo's boundary and the 4,038 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~268-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hugo's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hugo's 4,038 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Choctaw County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Choctaw County
- The growing challenges every Oklahoma grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oklahoma
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Choctaw County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hugo's 4,038 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hugo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,038 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 Hugo-wide figureread your own land →