Amaya, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Amaya, 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 Amaya 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 Amaya — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Amaya — the short answer
Amaya, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 307 days between hard freezes, across 147 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 4
- Zavala County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Zavala County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~307
- Zavala County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 147 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 Zavala County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Amaya's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Amaya's 307-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Amaya
Each reading below is measured for Amaya itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAmaya runs about 307 days between hard freezes (read from Zavala County, the closest normal to Amaya) — 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
MeasuredAmaya sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Amaya is in
Amaya sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Amaya's own centroid rather than borrowed from Zavala County.
What Grows in Amaya
Every plant below cleared Amaya's own zone 9a and its 307-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Amaya?
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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — 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 Amaya
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Amaya. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DEL MONTE FOODS CRYSTAL CITY PLANT 250Toxics Release Inventory · 1.3 mi
- DEL MONTE FOODS CRYSTAL CITY PLANT 250Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- SILGAN CONTAINERSBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- RICK AND JERRYSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- KWIK CHEK 85Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- KWIK CHEK 86Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- PIONEER OILCO 92Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- ESCAMILLAS DRIVE THRU BARN 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- OJS DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- CITY OF CRYSTAL CITYSuperfund · 1.6 mi
- CITY MAINTENANCE YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- ROBERTO LOERAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Amaya'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 Amaya.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Amaya
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Amaya
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Amaya
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 Amaya average
Your land is one point inside Amaya
Everything above resolves to Amaya as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 147 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Zavala 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 Amaya Average
Amaya Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Amaya
- ●One soil character for all of Amaya
- ●Frost dates read at Amaya's scale: Feb 4 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Amaya's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Amaya
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Amaya, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Amaya averages can't show:
We read public map data around Amaya — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Amaya average
How we know this about Amaya
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 Zavala 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 Amaya
When does frost risk typically end in Amaya?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Amaya typically lands around Feb 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Amaya?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Amaya typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 307 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Amaya?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Amaya sees about 307 frost-free days — roughly Feb 4 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 25 to Nov 24, about 272 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Amaya?
The federal record around Amaya is a meaningful one — 34 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (20), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.3 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Amaya?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Amaya's scale — its 9a band and its 307-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Amaya'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 Amaya’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Amaya's own scale — the 147 acres it covers and 34 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Amaya's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 34 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Amaya, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Amaya's boundary and the 147 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~307-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Amaya's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Amaya has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Zavala County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Amaya's 147 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Zavala County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Zavala 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 Zavala County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Amaya's 147 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Amaya you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 147 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Amaya-wide figureread your own land →