Fabrica, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fabrica, 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 Fabrica 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 Fabrica — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fabrica — the short answer
Fabrica, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 313 days between hard freezes, across 200 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 31
- Maverick County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Maverick County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~313
- Maverick County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 200 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 Maverick County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Fabrica's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fabrica's 313-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fabrica
Each reading below is measured for Fabrica itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFabrica runs about 313 days between hard freezes (read from Maverick County, the closest normal to Fabrica) — 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
MeasuredFabrica sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Fabrica is in
Fabrica sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Fabrica's own centroid rather than borrowed from Maverick County.
What Grows in Fabrica
Every plant below cleared Fabrica's own zone 9a and its 313-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fabrica?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Fabrica
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fabrica. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40533Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- VALLEY MART 9Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- EAGLE WAREHOUSE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SECO GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #6549Brownfields · 2400 ft
- CASINO GROCERY 2Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- MAYELOS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MINIT MART 3Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JACINTO ENTERPRISESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- KWIK CHEK 88Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SIX PACK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MINIT MART 4Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fabrica'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 Fabrica.
Total Sites
89
within ~10 miles of Fabrica
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fabrica
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fabrica
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fabrica, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 73 sites within ~10 miles of Fabrica. 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 Fabrica
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 Fabrica average
Your land is one point inside Fabrica
Everything above resolves to Fabrica as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 200 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Maverick 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 Fabrica Average
Fabrica Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Fabrica
- ●One soil character for all of Fabrica
- ●Frost dates read at Fabrica's scale: Jan 31 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fabrica's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fabrica
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fabrica, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fabrica averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fabrica — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fabrica average
How we know this about Fabrica
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 Maverick 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 Fabrica
When does frost risk typically end in Fabrica?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fabrica typically lands around Jan 31, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Fabrica?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fabrica typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 313 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fabrica?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fabrica sees about 313 frost-free days — roughly Jan 31 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 21 to Nov 26, about 278 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fabrica?
The federal record around Fabrica is a meaningful one — 89 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (73), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Fabrica?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fabrica's scale — its 9a band and its 313-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fabrica'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 Fabrica’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Fabrica's own scale — the 200 acres it covers and 89 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fabrica's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 89 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fabrica, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fabrica's boundary and the 200 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~313-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fabrica's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Fabrica has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Maverick County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fabrica's 200 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Maverick County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Maverick 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 Maverick County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fabrica's 200 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fabrica you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 200 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 Fabrica-wide figureread your own land →