Elsa, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Elsa, 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 Elsa 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 Elsa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Elsa — the short answer
Elsa, Texas: USDA zone 10a, about 341 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 16
- Hidalgo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 23
- Hidalgo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~341
- Hidalgo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Hidalgo County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Elsa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elsa's 341-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elsa
Each reading below is measured for Elsa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsElsa runs about 341 days between hard freezes (read from Hidalgo County, the closest normal to Elsa) — 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
MeasuredElsa sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
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 Elsa is in
Elsa sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Elsa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hidalgo County.
What Grows in Elsa
Every plant below cleared Elsa's own zone 10a and its 341-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elsa?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 23 — 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 Elsa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elsa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TRIPLE MART 12Underground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- MURPHY USA 7655Underground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- ARNOLDS SHORT STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- R & R REPAIR GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- HEB 138Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- PEREZ SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- KNAPP-SHERRILL ELSA DIVISIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ELSA DRIVE-INUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- ELSA AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- VALLEY SHAMROCK 40Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- PIT STOP DRIVE THRUUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- LOS COMPADRES STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elsa'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 Elsa.
Total Sites
252
within ~10 miles of Elsa
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Elsa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elsa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Elsa, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 207 sites within ~10 miles of Elsa. 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 Elsa
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 Elsa average
Your land is one point inside Elsa
Everything above resolves to Elsa as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Hidalgo County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Elsa Average
Elsa Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Elsa
- ●One soil character for all of Elsa
- ●Frost dates read at Elsa's scale: Jan 16 to Dec 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elsa's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elsa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elsa, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elsa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elsa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elsa average
How we know this about Elsa
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Hidalgo 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Elsa
When does frost risk typically end in Elsa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elsa typically lands around Jan 16, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Elsa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elsa typically arrives around Dec 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 9, so the watching starts about Nov 23 — about 341 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elsa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elsa sees about 341 frost-free days — roughly Jan 16 through Dec 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 6 to Dec 9, about 306 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elsa?
The federal record around Elsa is a meaningful one — 252 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (207), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Elsa?
From about Nov 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Elsa's scale — its 10a band and its 341-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elsa'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 Elsa’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Elsa's own scale — the 1,336 acres it covers and 252 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elsa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 252 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elsa, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elsa's boundary and the 1,336 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~341-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Elsa's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Elsa has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Hidalgo County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Elsa's 1,336 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hidalgo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hidalgo 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 Hidalgo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elsa's 1,336 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elsa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,336 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Elsa-wide figureread your own land →
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