Karnes City, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Karnes City, 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 Karnes City 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 Karnes City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Karnes City — the short answer
Karnes City, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 307 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 5
- Karnes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Karnes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~307
- Karnes County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Karnes County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Karnes City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Karnes City's 307-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Karnes City
Each reading below is measured for Karnes City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsKarnes City runs about 307 days between hard freezes (read from Karnes County, the closest normal to Karnes City) — 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
MeasuredKarnes City 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 Karnes City is in
Karnes City sits in the East Central Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Karnes City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Karnes County.
What Grows in Karnes City
Every plant below cleared Karnes City's own zone 9a and its 307-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Karnes City?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 5 (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 Karnes City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Karnes City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KARNES FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- KARNES CITY ICE HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- HAIR TRENDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- ADOLPHS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- MARKET STREET PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1000 ft
- MARKET STREET PLANTBrownfields · 1000 ft
- CITY MAINTENANCE YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CIRCLE K 2704058Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- ROBERTS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- 7-11 STORE & WASHATERIAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- BUS MAINTENANCE FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- BIG B FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Karnes City'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 Karnes City.
Total Sites
117
within ~10 miles of Karnes City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Karnes City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Karnes City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Karnes City, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 81 sites within ~10 miles of Karnes City. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Karnes City
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 Karnes City average
Your land is one point inside Karnes City
Everything above resolves to Karnes City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Karnes 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 Karnes City Average
Karnes City Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Karnes City
- ●One soil character for all of Karnes City
- ●Frost dates read at Karnes City's scale: Feb 5 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Karnes City's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Karnes City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Karnes City, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Karnes City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Karnes City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Karnes City average
How we know this about Karnes City
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 Karnes 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 Karnes City
When does frost risk typically end in Karnes City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Karnes City typically lands around Feb 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Karnes City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Karnes City 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 307 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Karnes City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Karnes City sees about 307 frost-free days — roughly Feb 5 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 26 to Nov 25, about 272 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Karnes City?
The federal record around Karnes City is a meaningful one — 117 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (81), 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 Karnes City?
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 Karnes City's scale — its 9a band and its 307-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Karnes City'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 Karnes City’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Karnes City's own scale — the 1,485 acres it covers and 117 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Karnes City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 117 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Karnes City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Karnes City's boundary and the 1,485 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~307-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Karnes City's own centroid, the East Central Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Karnes City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Karnes County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Karnes City's 1,485 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Karnes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Karnes 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 Karnes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Karnes City's 1,485 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Karnes City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,485 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 Karnes City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasKarnes City sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides