Iraan, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Iraan, 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 Iraan 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 Iraan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Iraan — the short answer
Iraan, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 395 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- Pecos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Pecos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~278
- Pecos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 395 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 Pecos County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Iraan's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Iraan's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Iraan
Each reading below is measured for Iraan itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsIraan runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Pecos County, the closest normal to Iraan) — 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
MeasuredIraan sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Iraan is in
Iraan sits in the Chihuahuan Deserts — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Iraan's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pecos County.
What Grows in Iraan
Every plant below cleared Iraan's own zone 8a and its 278-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Iraan?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Iraan
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Iraan. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WESTERN PETROLEUM 8636Underground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- UNCLES 130206Underground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- GARRISON CONTRACTORUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- GLOBE WELL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- J E COLESUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- STRIPES 5013Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- NONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- ALLSUPS 253Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- YAKUTAT RETAILUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- STRATA WELL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- TRANSPORTATION MECHANIC SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- US-53-08-601Nitrate · 8.4 mi
2 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Iraan'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 Iraan.
Total Sites
16
within ~10 miles of Iraan
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Iraan
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Iraan
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 Iraan average
Your land is one point inside Iraan
Everything above resolves to Iraan as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 395 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pecos 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 Iraan Average
Iraan Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Iraan
- ●One soil character for all of Iraan
- ●Frost dates read at Iraan's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Iraan's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Iraan
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Iraan, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Iraan averages can't show:
We read public map data around Iraan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Iraan average
How we know this about Iraan
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 Pecos 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 Iraan
When does frost risk typically end in Iraan?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Iraan typically lands around Feb 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 Mar 14.
When is the first frost in Iraan?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Iraan typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 278 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Iraan?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Iraan sees about 278 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 12, about 243 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Iraan?
The federal record around Iraan is a meaningful one — 16 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (11), 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 Iraan?
From about Oct 27 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 Nov 26 (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 Nov 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Iraan's scale — its 8a band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Iraan'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 Iraan’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Iraan's own scale — the 395 acres it covers and 16 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Iraan's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 16 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Iraan, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Iraan's boundary and the 395 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Iraan's own centroid, the Chihuahuan DesertsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Iraan has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pecos County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Iraan's 395 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pecos County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pecos 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 Pecos County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Iraan's 395 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Iraan you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 395 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 Iraan-wide figureread your own land →
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