La Ward, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in La Ward, 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 La Ward 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 La Ward — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
La Ward — the short answer
La Ward, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 319 days between hard freezes, across 520 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- 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
- 520 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 9b is La Ward's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against La Ward's 319-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in La Ward
Each reading below is measured for La Ward itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLa Ward runs about 319 days between hard freezes (read from Jackson County, the closest normal to La Ward) — 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
MeasuredLa Ward sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 La Ward is in
La Ward sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at La Ward's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in La Ward
Every plant below cleared La Ward's own zone 9b and its 319-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in La Ward?
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 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. 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 La Ward
Closest first, within ~10 miles of La Ward. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LA WARD ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- LA WARD TELEPHONE EXCHANGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- PP-80-05-701Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- CIRCLE R DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- TUFFYS KWIK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- PP-80-12-605Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- PP-80-12-202Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- PP-80-04-908Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- PP-80-12-502Nitrate · 5.8 mi
- JAMES FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- INTEPLAST GROUP FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 6.4 mi
- INTEPLAST GROUP FACILITYBrownfields · 6.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from La Ward'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 La Ward.
Total Sites
30
within ~10 miles of La Ward
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of La Ward
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of La Ward
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around La Ward, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of La Ward. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 La Ward
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 La Ward average
Your land is one point inside La Ward
Everything above resolves to La Ward as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 520 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 La Ward Average
La Ward Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across La Ward
- ●One soil character for all of La Ward
- ●Frost dates read at La Ward's scale: Jan 29 to Dec 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not La Ward's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in La Ward
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in La Ward, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that La Ward averages can't show:
We read public map data around La Ward — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the La Ward average
How we know this about La Ward
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 La Ward
When does frost risk typically end in La Ward?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in La Ward 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 La Ward?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in La Ward 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 La Ward?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, La Ward 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 La Ward?
The federal record around La Ward is light — 30 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (18), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 La Ward?
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 La Ward's scale — its 9b band and its 319-day season. Your yard writes its own version of La Ward'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 La Ward’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at La Ward's own scale — the 520 acres it covers and 30 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- La Ward's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 30 documented contamination sites on the federal record near La Ward, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- La Ward's boundary and the 520 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~319-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at La Ward's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — La Ward 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 La Ward's 520 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- 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 La Ward's 520 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of La Ward you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 520 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 La Ward-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasLa Ward sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides