Batesville, 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.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Batesville, 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 Batesville 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 Batesville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Batesville — the short answer
Batesville, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 307 days between hard freezes, across 4K 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
- 4K 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 Batesville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Batesville's 307-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Batesville
Each reading below is measured for Batesville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBatesville runs about 307 days between hard freezes (read from Zavala County, the closest normal to Batesville) — 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
MeasuredBatesville 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 Batesville is in
Batesville sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Batesville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Zavala County.
What Grows in Batesville
Every plant below cleared Batesville'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 Batesville?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 Batesville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Batesville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AGRICULTURAL SUPPLIES BATESVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- AMIGOS TRAVEL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ZAVALA FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- LIVE OAK FEEDLOTCAFO · 8.0 mi
- BATESVILLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- MENDOZAS CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- CHAPARROSA RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- LES LAFFERE FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- AGRO FARM SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- JERRYS CORNER MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- BILLIE MCHAZLETTUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- MUNOZ SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Batesville'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 Batesville.
Total Sites
26
within ~10 miles of Batesville
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Batesville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Batesville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Batesville, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 25 sites within ~10 miles of Batesville. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Batesville
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 Batesville average
Your land is one point inside Batesville
Everything above resolves to Batesville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K 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 Batesville Average
Batesville Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Batesville
- ●One soil character for all of Batesville
- ●Frost dates read at Batesville's scale: Feb 4 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Batesville's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Batesville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Batesville, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Batesville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Batesville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Batesville average
How we know this about Batesville
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 Batesville
When does frost risk typically end in Batesville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Batesville 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 Batesville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Batesville 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 Batesville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Batesville 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 Batesville?
The federal record around Batesville is light — 26 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles 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 Batesville?
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 Batesville's scale — its 9a band and its 307-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Batesville'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 Batesville’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Batesville's own scale — the 3,786 acres it covers and 26 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Batesville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 26 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Batesville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Batesville's boundary and the 3,786 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 Batesville's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Batesville 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 Batesville's 3,786 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 Batesville's 3,786 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Batesville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,786 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Batesville-wide figureread your own land →