Jim Wells County, in Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Jim Wells County lies within the Coastal Bend — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Jim Wells County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Jim Wells County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Jim Wells County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Jim Wells County — the short answer
Jim Wells County, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 554K acres.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 554K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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
Zone 9b is Jim Wells County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jim Wells County's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Jim Wells County
Across a year, Jim Wells County accumulates about 8,304 growing degree days above 50°F, about 2,480 more than the middle Texas county — ahead of 244 of Texas’s 254 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Winter banks about 0 hours below 45°F, 1,095 fewer than the Texas middle of 1,095. Chill is what tells a fruit tree its dormancy is over, and it is set by climate rather than by anything you can build.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Jim Wells County
Across Jim Wells County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Opelika, Delfina, and Lattas are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.7–7.9, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
35%
Hydric soils
12%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Jim Wells County
The USDA soil survey maps 43% of Jim Wells County as well drained — but another 56% drains differently: 27% moderately well drained, 27% somewhat poorly drained.
Opelika is the most extensive named soil at 15% of mapped acres, then Delfina (13%) and Lattas (12%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Jim Wells County
Each reading below is measured for Jim Wells County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Jim Wells County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Jim Wells County runs about pH 6.7–7.9, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredJim Wells County runs about 321 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredJim Wells County 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 Jim Wells County is in
Jim Wells County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Western Gulf Coastal Plain (79%) and Southern Texas Plains (22%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Jim Wells County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Jim Wells County's own USDA zone 9b and its own 321-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile.
Is it too late to plant in Jim Wells County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 gets applied to farmland in Jim Wells County
USGS estimates 157,733 lb of Glyphosate on Jim Wells County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (65,187 lb) and Atrazine (55,080 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Jim Wells County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Jim Wells County — 208 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
There's a meaningful federal record across Jim Wells County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Jim Wells County
Closest first, across Jim Wells County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARROWHEAD AIRSTRIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- LUCIANO GARCIA CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- SEELIGSON GAS 34C1B38250Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- ENSCO DRILLING STH TX DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- PREMONT COMPRESSOR STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- GLORIA YSASIUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- BARR IRON METALUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- HALLIBURTON LOGGING SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- ADCOCK PIPE & SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- ENCINO DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- F A ALEMAN JRUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- NAVAL AUXILIARY LANDING FIELD ORANGE GROVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jim Wells County'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 Jim Wells County.
Total Sites
208
across Jim Wells County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Jim Wells County
Severity Distribution
across Jim Wells County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jim Wells County, two things run higher than the national average across Jim Wells County — CAFO (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (179 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Jim Wells County
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 Jim Wells County average
Your land is one point inside Jim Wells County
Everything above resolves to Jim Wells County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 554K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Jim Wells County Average
Jim Wells County Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Jim Wells County
- ●One soil character for all of Jim Wells County
- ●Frost dates read at Jim Wells County's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jim Wells County's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Jim Wells County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jim Wells County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jim Wells County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jim Wells County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jim Wells County average
How we know this about Jim Wells County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Jim Wells County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Jim Wells County
When does frost risk typically end in Jim Wells County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jim Wells County 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.
How long is the growing season in Jim Wells County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jim Wells County 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 Jim Wells County?
The federal record around Jim Wells County is a meaningful one — 208 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (179), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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.
Everything above is measured at Jim Wells County's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jim Wells County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Texas's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Jim Wells County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Jim Wells County's own scale — its own ~321-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 208 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jim Wells County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Jim Wells County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~321-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Jim Wells CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 208 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Jim Wells County's boundary and the 553,712 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Jim Wells County spans, Western Gulf Coastal Plain the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Jim Wells County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Jim Wells County — the ~321 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jim Wells County's 553,712 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 208 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Jim Wells Countyread your own land →