Catarina, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Catarina, 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 Catarina 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 Catarina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Catarina — the short answer
Catarina, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 310 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 2
- Dimmit County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Dimmit County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~310
- Dimmit County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Dimmit County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Catarina's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Catarina's 310-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Catarina
Each reading below is measured for Catarina itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCatarina runs about 310 days between hard freezes (read from Dimmit County, the closest normal to Catarina) — 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
MeasuredCatarina 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 Catarina is in
Catarina sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Catarina's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dimmit County.
What Grows in Catarina
Every plant below cleared Catarina's own zone 9b and its 310-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Catarina?
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 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — 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 Catarina
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Catarina. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CATARINA FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CATARINA ONE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SALANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- TALAMANTES GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- TRIPLE C TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- BUSTAMANTES SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- BUSTAMANTE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- CARRIZO SPRINGS SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- VEGAS DRIVE-INUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- TED BANDA SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- ESCOBEDO CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- BOWMAN CATTLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Catarina'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 Catarina.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Catarina
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Catarina
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 Catarina average
Your land is one point inside Catarina
Everything above resolves to Catarina as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dimmit 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 Catarina Average
Catarina Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Catarina
- ●One soil character for all of Catarina
- ●Frost dates read at Catarina's scale: Feb 2 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Catarina's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Catarina
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Catarina, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Catarina averages can't show:
We read public map data around Catarina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Catarina average
How we know this about Catarina
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 Dimmit 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 Catarina
When does frost risk typically end in Catarina?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Catarina typically lands around Feb 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Catarina?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Catarina typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 310 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Catarina?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Catarina sees about 310 frost-free days — roughly Feb 2 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 23 to Nov 25, about 275 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Catarina?
The federal record around Catarina is light — 21 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (21), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Catarina?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Catarina's scale — its 9b band and its 310-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Catarina'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 Catarina’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Catarina's own scale — the 2,408 acres it covers and 21 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Catarina's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 21 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Catarina, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Catarina's boundary and the 2,408 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~310-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Catarina's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Catarina has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dimmit County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Catarina's 2,408 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dimmit County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dimmit 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 Dimmit County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Catarina's 2,408 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Catarina you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,408 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Catarina-wide figureread your own land →