Ganado, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect okra, black-eyed pea, tomato, and jalapeno to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ganado, 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 Ganado 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 Ganado — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ganado — the short answer
Ganado, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 319 days between hard freezes, across 746 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 29
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 14
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~319
- Jackson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 746 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 Jackson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Ganado's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ganado's 319-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ganado
Each reading below is measured for Ganado itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGanado runs about 319 days between hard freezes (read from Jackson County, the closest normal to Ganado) — 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
MeasuredGanado 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 Ganado is in
Ganado sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ganado's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Ganado
Plants matched to Ganado's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Ganado?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Ganado
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ganado. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GANADO STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- PP-66-60-901Nitrate · 1000 ft
- VICTORIA READY MIX CONCRETEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- PRIMOS QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- B & B EXPRESS 5002Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WENSKE SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- GANADO TRAVELCENTER 231Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- J & J DRIVE INN GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GANADO TELEPHONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- JACKSON COUNTY COMMSR PCT 2Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- MAURITZ CATTLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- JAMES DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ganado'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 Ganado.
Total Sites
161
within ~10 miles of Ganado
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ganado
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ganado
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ganado, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 127 sites within ~10 miles of Ganado. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Ganado
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 Ganado average
Your land is one point inside Ganado
Everything above resolves to Ganado as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 746 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jackson 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 Ganado Average
Ganado Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Ganado
- ●One soil character for all of Ganado
- ●Frost dates read at Ganado's scale: Jan 29 to Dec 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ganado's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ganado
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ganado, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ganado averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ganado — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ganado average
How we know this about Ganado
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 Jackson 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 Ganado
When does frost risk typically end in Ganado?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ganado typically lands around Jan 29, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Ganado?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ganado typically arrives around Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 30, so the watching starts about Nov 14 — about 319 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ganado?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ganado sees about 319 frost-free days — roughly Jan 29 through Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 19 to Nov 30, about 284 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ganado?
The federal record around Ganado shows 161 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (127), 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 Ganado?
From about Nov 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ganado's scale — its 9a band and its 319-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ganado'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 Ganado’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Ganado's own scale — the 746 acres it covers and 161 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ganado's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 161 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ganado, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ganado's boundary and the 746 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Ganado's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ganado has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jackson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ganado's 746 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- The candidate plant list — Texas's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Texas
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ganado's 746 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ganado you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 746 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 Ganado-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasGanado sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides