Reagan County, in Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Reagan County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Reagan 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 Reagan County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Reagan County — the short answer
Reagan County, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 253 days between hard freezes, across 752K acres.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~253
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 752K 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 8a is Reagan County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Reagan County's 253-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat and winter chill in Reagan County
Across a year, Reagan County accumulates about 5,582 growing degree days above 50°F, about 242 fewer than the middle Texas county — ahead of 80 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 1,368 hours below 45°F, 273 more 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 Reagan County
Across Reagan County, the ground is predominantly Aridisols, where Reagan, Conger, and Angelo are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 8.2, moderately alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Aridisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Reagan County
The USDA soil survey maps 98% of Reagan County as well drained — but another 2% drains differently: 2% moderately well drained.
Reagan is the most extensive named soil at 58% of mapped acres, then Conger (14%) and Angelo (11%).
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 Reagan County
Each reading below is measured for Reagan 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 Reagan County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — 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 Reagan County runs about pH 8.2, 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
MeasuredReagan County runs about 253 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredReagan County sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Reagan County is in
Reagan County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Edwards Plateau (69%) and High Plains (31%). 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 Reagan County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Reagan County's own USDA zone 8a and its own 253-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 Reagan County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What gets applied to farmland in Reagan County
USGS estimates 106,757 lb of Glyphosate on Reagan County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Dicamba (27,409 lb) and Acetochlor (9,885 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 Reagan County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Reagan County — 62 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Reagan County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Reagan County
Closest first, across Reagan County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SOUTHWEST FUELUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MANN TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MARATHON OILCO BIG LAKE WHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- JOHN L COXUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- OSCAR KOTRLAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MARATHON OILCO BIG LAKE FACILUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- P C TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- REAGAN COUNTY ROAD DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MERCHANT UNITUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BEST SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- STANLEY TURNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Reagan 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 Reagan County.
Total Sites
62
across Reagan County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
across Reagan County
Severity Distribution
across Reagan County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Reagan County, two things run higher than the national average across Reagan County — Toxics Release Inventory (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (39 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Reagan 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 Reagan County average
Your land is one point inside Reagan County
Everything above resolves to Reagan County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 752K 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 Reagan County Average
Reagan County Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Reagan County
- ●One soil character for all of Reagan County
- ●Frost dates read at Reagan County's scale: Mar 11 to Nov 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Reagan County's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Reagan County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Reagan County, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Reagan County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Reagan County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Reagan County average
How we know this about Reagan 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 Reagan County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Reagan County
When does frost risk typically end in Reagan County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Reagan County typically lands around Mar 11, 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 Apr 1.
How long is the growing season in Reagan County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Reagan County sees about 253 frost-free days — roughly Mar 11 through Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 1 to Nov 5, about 218 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Reagan County?
The federal record around Reagan County shows 62 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (39), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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.
Everything above is measured at Reagan County's scale — its 8a band and its 253-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Reagan 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 Reagan County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Reagan County's own scale — its own ~253-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 62 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Reagan County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Reagan County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~253-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Reagan CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 62 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Reagan County's boundary and the 752,200 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~253-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Reagan County spans, Edwards Plateau the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Reagan 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 Reagan County — the ~253 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 Reagan County's 752,200 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 62 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 Reagan Countyread your own land →