East Alto Bonito, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in East Alto Bonito, 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 East Alto Bonito 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 East Alto Bonito — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
East Alto Bonito — the short answer
East Alto Bonito, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 322 days between hard freezes, across 72 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 21
- Starr County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Starr County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~322
- Starr County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 72 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 Starr County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is East Alto Bonito's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against East Alto Bonito's 322-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in East Alto Bonito
Each reading below is measured for East Alto Bonito itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEast Alto Bonito runs about 322 days between hard freezes (read from Starr County, the closest normal to East Alto Bonito) — 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
MeasuredEast Alto Bonito 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 East Alto Bonito is in
East Alto Bonito sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at East Alto Bonito's own centroid rather than borrowed from Starr County.
What Grows in East Alto Bonito
Every plant below cleared East Alto Bonito's own zone 9b and its 322-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in East Alto Bonito?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 21 (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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near East Alto Bonito
Closest first, within ~10 miles of East Alto Bonito. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GARCIAS GROCERY & AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- EL ALTO COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40601Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CIRCLE 7 EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- RIO GRANDE GROWERS COOP 1Underground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #6039Brownfields · 3.4 mi
- J & L CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40633Underground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- CITY CASH GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- J & R FEEDLOTCAFO · 5.9 mi
- AGUA SUDPFAS · 6.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from East Alto Bonito'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 East Alto Bonito.
Total Sites
21
within ~10 miles of East Alto Bonito
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of East Alto Bonito
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of East Alto Bonito
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in East Alto Bonito
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 East Alto Bonito average
Your land is one point inside East Alto Bonito
Everything above resolves to East Alto Bonito as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 72 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Starr 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 East Alto Bonito Average
East Alto Bonito Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across East Alto Bonito
- ●One soil character for all of East Alto Bonito
- ●Frost dates read at East Alto Bonito's scale: Jan 21 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not East Alto Bonito's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in East Alto Bonito
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in East Alto Bonito, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that East Alto Bonito averages can't show:
We read public map data around East Alto Bonito — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the East Alto Bonito average
How we know this about East Alto Bonito
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 Starr 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 East Alto Bonito
When does frost risk typically end in East Alto Bonito?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in East Alto Bonito typically lands around Jan 21, 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 11.
When is the first frost in East Alto Bonito?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in East Alto Bonito 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 322 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in East Alto Bonito?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, East Alto Bonito sees about 322 frost-free days — roughly Jan 21 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 11 to Nov 25, about 287 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in East Alto Bonito?
The federal record around East Alto Bonito shows 21 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (13), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in East Alto Bonito?
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 East Alto Bonito's scale — its 9b band and its 322-day season. Your yard writes its own version of East Alto Bonito'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 East Alto Bonito’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at East Alto Bonito's own scale — the 72 acres it covers and 21 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- East Alto Bonito's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 21 documented contamination sites on the federal record near East Alto Bonito, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- East Alto Bonito's boundary and the 72 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~322-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at East Alto Bonito's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — East Alto Bonito has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Starr County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so East Alto Bonito's 72 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Starr County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Starr 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 Starr County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among East Alto Bonito's 72 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of East Alto Bonito you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 72 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 East Alto Bonito-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Growing region
Nearby growing guides