What Grows in Rocky, Oklahoma

USDA Zones 7b · 134 acres

Rocky, Oklahoma, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.

Well-matched crops include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Rocky, 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 Rocky 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 Rocky — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Rocky — the short answer

Rocky, Oklahoma: USDA zone 7b, about 238 days between hard freezes, across 134 acres of town.

USDA zone
7b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
Mar 21
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Nov 14
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~238
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Town area
134 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

7b7b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 7b is Rocky's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rocky's 238-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Rocky

Each reading below is measured for Rocky itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Rocky runs about 238 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.

There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.

Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.

NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals

Winter hardiness

Measured

Rocky sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.

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 Rocky is in

Rocky sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Rocky's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washita County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Rocky

Every plant below cleared Rocky's own zone 7b and its 238-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oklahoma profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in OklahomaZones 2–11Rocky's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
prickly pear, photograph
Oklahoma prickly pear guideZones 5–10Rocky's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in OklahomaZones 6–10Rocky's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Oklahoma growing notesZones 2–11Rocky's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
fig, photograph
Growing fig in OklahomaZones 6–10Rocky's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
lavender, photograph
Oklahoma lavender guideZones 5–8Rocky's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in OklahomaZones 2–10Rocky's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
grape, photograph
Grape: Oklahoma growing notesZones 6–9Rocky's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Turkish rocket, photograph
Growing turkish rocket in OklahomaRocky's 238 days clear the ~90 it needs.
kale, photograph
Oklahoma kale guideZones 2–11Rocky's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
hazelnut, photograph
Hazelnut in OklahomaZones 4–9Rocky's 7b — 3 zones of cold margin.
lentil, photograph
Lentil: Oklahoma growing notesZones 2–11Rocky's 238 days clear the ~70 it needs.
pawpaw, photograph
Growing pawpaw in OklahomaZones 5–9Rocky's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
okra, photograph
Oklahoma okra guideZones 2–12Rocky's 238 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Potato in OklahomaZones 2–11Rocky's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Oklahoma growing notesZones 3–10Rocky's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in OklahomaZones 2–11Rocky's 238 days clear the ~70 it needs.
Apache plume, photograph
Oklahoma apache plume guideZones 5–11Rocky's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in OklahomaZones 3–8Rocky's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Oklahoma growing notesZones 3–8Rocky's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in OklahomaRocky's 238 days clear the ~50 it needs.
holly, photograph
Oklahoma holly guideZones 5–11Rocky's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
Virginia creeper, photograph
Virginia creeper in OklahomaZones 3–9Rocky's 7b — 4 zones of cold margin.
tulip, photograph
Tulip: Oklahoma growing notesZones 6–8Rocky's 7b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Douglas fir, photograph
Growing douglas fir in OklahomaZones 4–10Rocky's 7b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Ethiopian mustard, photograph
Oklahoma ethiopian mustard guideZones 4–10Rocky's 7b — 3 zones of cold margin.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in OklahomaZones 2–7Rocky's 7b — 5 zones of cold margin.
redbud, photograph
Redbud: Oklahoma growing notesZones 5–11Rocky's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.
Japanese millet, photograph
Growing japanese millet in OklahomaZones 5–10Rocky's 238 days clear the ~45 it needs.
ajuga, photograph
Oklahoma ajuga guideZones 5–11Rocky's 7b — 2 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Rocky?

Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.

What's on the federal record near Rocky

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rocky. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. Galloway Gulf StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
  2. Rocky Farmers Cooperative IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
  3. Western Producers Cooperative RockyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
  4. Jimmie W. EdenUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
  5. C-Store & More LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
  6. Gomer Skelley & SonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
  7. 08N-18W-15 CDC 1Nitrate · 1.9 mi
  8. 07N-18W-03 C 1Nitrate · 3.8 mi
  9. At&T-C Sentinel (L441650)Underground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
  10. 07N-17W-08 BCB 1Nitrate · 4.6 mi
  11. Okla. Veterans Ctr/ClintonUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
  12. Darrell DevlinUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Rocky'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 Rocky.

Total Sites

94

within ~10 miles of Rocky

Risk Level

Moderate

Highest-severity

2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Rocky

High2Moderate45Low47

Highest-Severity Sites

08N-16W-09 Ccd 1
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
08N-16W-09 Ccd 1
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
08N-18W-15 Cdc 1
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
08N-18W-15 Cdc 1
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
08N-19W-23 Acc 1
Nitrate Monitoring · Well

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Rocky, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 62 sites within ~10 miles of Rocky. 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.

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Rocky

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 Rocky average

Your land is one point inside Rocky

Everything above resolves to Rocky as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 134 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 Rocky Average

Rocky Average

  • USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Rocky
  • One soil character for all of Rocky
  • Frost dates read at Rocky's scale: Mar 21 to Nov 14

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Rocky's 7b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Rocky

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rocky, Oklahoma — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Rocky averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Rocky averages 238Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Rocky — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rocky average

How we know this about Rocky

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 Rocky’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 Rocky

When does frost risk typically end in Rocky?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rocky typically lands around Mar 21, 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 Apr 11.

When is the first frost in Rocky?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rocky typically arrives around Nov 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 31, so the watching starts about Oct 15 — about 238 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Rocky?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rocky sees about 238 frost-free days — roughly Mar 21 through Nov 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 11 to Oct 31, about 203 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rocky?

The federal record around Rocky shows 94 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (62), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Rocky?

From about Oct 15 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Rocky's scale — its 7b band and its 238-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rocky'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 Rocky’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at Rocky's own scale — its own ~238-day season between 28°F freezes, the 134 acres it covers and 94 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Rocky's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Rocky's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 21 and Nov 14 and the ~238-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 94 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rocky, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Rocky's boundary and the 134 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~238-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Rocky's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rocky's 134 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washita County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washita 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 Washita County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rocky's 134 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Rocky you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 134 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Rocky-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address

More in Oklahoma

Wider growing context

What grows across Oklahoma

Rocky sits outside our named growing regions, so Oklahoma as a whole is its closest context here.