Amargosa, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Amargosa, 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 Amargosa 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 Amargosa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Amargosa — the short answer
Amargosa, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 855 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Jim Wells County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 14
- Jim Wells County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- Jim Wells County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 855 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Jim Wells County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Amargosa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Amargosa's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Amargosa
Each reading below is measured for Amargosa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAmargosa runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from Jim Wells County, the closest normal to Amargosa) — 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
MeasuredAmargosa sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Amargosa is in
Amargosa sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Amargosa's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Jim Wells County is mostly Western Gulf Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Amargosa
Every plant below cleared Amargosa's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Amargosa?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Amargosa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Amargosa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HEARTBREAK TRUCKINGBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- CITY OF ALICE SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- DIA-LOGUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- SIMONS PETROLEUM INCBrownfields · 8.3 mi
- HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- BAKER HUGHES PRESSURE PUMPING ALICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.6 mi
- ECONOMY FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- JB-84-15-402Nitrate · 9.2 mi
- INDUSTRIAL LEASE SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.3 mi
- PRIMOS QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- YU MISUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- BUS FLEET GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Amargosa'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 Amargosa.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Amargosa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Amargosa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Amargosa, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 45 sites within ~10 miles of Amargosa. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Amargosa
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 Amargosa average
Your land is one point inside Amargosa
Everything above resolves to Amargosa as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 855 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jim Wells County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. 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 Amargosa Average
Amargosa Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Amargosa
- ●One soil character for all of Amargosa
- ●Frost dates read at Amargosa's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Amargosa's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Amargosa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Amargosa, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Amargosa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Amargosa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Amargosa average
How we know this about Amargosa
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 Jim Wells County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 Amargosa
When does frost risk typically end in Amargosa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Amargosa typically lands around Jan 27, 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 Feb 17.
When is the first frost in Amargosa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Amargosa typically arrives around Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 30, so the watching starts about Nov 14 — about 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Amargosa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Amargosa sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Nov 30, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Amargosa?
The federal record around Amargosa shows 52 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (45), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.3 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 Amargosa?
From about Nov 14 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 Dec 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 Dec 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Amargosa's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Amargosa'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 Amargosa’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Amargosa's own scale — the 855 acres it covers and 52 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Amargosa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 52 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Amargosa, the closest Brownfields record about 1.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Amargosa's boundary and the 855 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Amargosa sits in the Southern Texas Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Amargosa has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jim Wells County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Amargosa's 855 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jim Wells County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jim Wells County
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Jim Wells County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Amargosa's 855 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Amargosa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 855 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.3 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 Amargosa-wide figureread your own land →
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