Escobares, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Escobares, 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 Escobares 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 Escobares — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Escobares — the short answer
Escobares, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 322 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- 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
- City 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 Starr County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Escobares's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Escobares's 322-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Escobares
Each reading below is measured for Escobares itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEscobares runs about 322 days between hard freezes (read from Starr County, the closest normal to Escobares) — 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
MeasuredEscobares 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 Escobares is in
Escobares sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Escobares's own centroid rather than borrowed from Starr County.
What Grows in Escobares
Every plant below cleared Escobares'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 Escobares?
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. 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 Escobares
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Escobares. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RAZEEBA MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- 7-ELEVEN 59488Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- PUEBLO EXPRESS MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- TILOS DRIVE THRUUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ROMA ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- R&R KWIK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- RIO GRANDE CITY US ARMY RESERVE CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- SILVER MINE DRIVE INN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40600Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- EL TIGRE FOOD STORE 3Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- EL VENADO DRIVE THRUUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- CHARLIES DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Escobares'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 Escobares.
Total Sites
66
within ~10 miles of Escobares
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Escobares
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Escobares
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Escobares, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 61 sites within ~10 miles of Escobares. 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 Escobares
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 Escobares average
Your land is one point inside Escobares
Everything above resolves to Escobares as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Starr 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 Escobares Average
Escobares Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Escobares
- ●One soil character for all of Escobares
- ●Frost dates read at Escobares's scale: Jan 21 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Escobares's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Escobares
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Escobares, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Escobares averages can't show:
We read public map data around Escobares — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Escobares average
How we know this about Escobares
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 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 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 Escobares
When does frost risk typically end in Escobares?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Escobares 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 Escobares?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Escobares 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 Escobares?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Escobares 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 Escobares?
The federal record around Escobares shows 66 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (61), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Escobares?
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 Escobares's scale — its 9b band and its 322-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Escobares'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 Escobares’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Escobares's own scale — the 1,711 acres it covers and 66 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Escobares's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 66 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Escobares, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Escobares's boundary and the 1,711 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 Escobares's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Escobares 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 Escobares's 1,711 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 Escobares's 1,711 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Escobares you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,711 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 Escobares-wide figureread your own land →
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