Fort Clark Springs, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fort Clark Springs, 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 Fort Clark Springs 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 Fort Clark Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fort Clark Springs — the short answer
Fort Clark Springs, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 299 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 10
- Kinney County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Kinney County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~299
- Kinney County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Kinney County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Fort Clark Springs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fort Clark Springs's 299-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fort Clark Springs
Each reading below is measured for Fort Clark Springs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFort Clark Springs runs about 299 days between hard freezes (read from Kinney County, the closest normal to Fort Clark Springs) — 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
MeasuredFort Clark Springs 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 Fort Clark Springs is in
Fort Clark Springs sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Fort Clark Springs's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kinney County.
What Grows in Fort Clark Springs
Every plant below cleared Fort Clark Springs's own zone 9a and its 299-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fort Clark Springs?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Fort Clark Springs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fort Clark Springs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40525Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- STOP N SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- RP-70-45-504Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- RIO GRANDE ELECTRIC COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- TEXAS RECYCLINGBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- BRACKETT ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- RP-70-45-601Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- RP-70-45-602Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- RP-70-46-401Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- KOUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- TXDOT BRACKETVILLE MAINTENANCE OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- KICKAPOO CAVERN STATE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fort Clark Springs'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 Fort Clark Springs.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fort Clark Springs
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fort Clark Springs
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fort Clark Springs, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Fort Clark Springs. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Fort Clark Springs
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 Fort Clark Springs average
Your land is one point inside Fort Clark Springs
Everything above resolves to Fort Clark Springs as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Kinney 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 Fort Clark Springs Average
Fort Clark Springs Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Fort Clark Springs
- ●One soil character for all of Fort Clark Springs
- ●Frost dates read at Fort Clark Springs's scale: Feb 10 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fort Clark Springs's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fort Clark Springs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fort Clark Springs, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fort Clark Springs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fort Clark Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fort Clark Springs average
How we know this about Fort Clark Springs
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 Kinney 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 Fort Clark Springs
When does frost risk typically end in Fort Clark Springs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fort Clark Springs typically lands around Feb 10, 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 Mar 3.
When is the first frost in Fort Clark Springs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fort Clark Springs typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 299 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fort Clark Springs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fort Clark Springs sees about 299 frost-free days — roughly Feb 10 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 3 to Nov 22, about 264 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fort Clark Springs?
The federal record around Fort Clark Springs is light — 41 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (22), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Fort Clark Springs?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fort Clark Springs's scale — its 9a band and its 299-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fort Clark Springs'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 Fort Clark Springs’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Fort Clark Springs's own scale — the 1,902 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fort Clark Springs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fort Clark Springs, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fort Clark Springs's boundary and the 1,902 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~299-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fort Clark Springs's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Fort Clark Springs has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Kinney County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fort Clark Springs's 1,902 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kinney County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kinney 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 Kinney County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fort Clark Springs's 1,902 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fort Clark Springs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,902 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Fort Clark Springs-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasFort Clark Springs sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides