Leakey, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Leakey, 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 Leakey 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 Leakey — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Leakey — the short answer
Leakey, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 362 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- Real County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Real County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- Real County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 362 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 Real County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Leakey's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Leakey's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Leakey
Each reading below is measured for Leakey itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLeakey runs about 261 days between hard freezes (read from Real County, the closest normal to Leakey) — 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
MeasuredLeakey sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Leakey is in
Leakey sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Leakey's own centroid rather than borrowed from Real County.
What Grows in Leakey
Every plant below cleared Leakey's own zone 8b and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Leakey?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — 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 Leakey
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Leakey. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40520Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- WA-69-18-3 (WESTEX)Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- WA-69-11-5 (Lewis)Nitrate · 6.3 mi
- JONES PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- DOY D PREECE ESTATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- OLD MOTELUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- HIDALGO TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- CANYON GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- LEAKEY HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- FLYING BULL RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- FRIO CANYON EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- DELEONS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Leakey'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 Leakey.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Leakey
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.
Check your specific parcel in Leakey
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 Leakey average
Your land is one point inside Leakey
Everything above resolves to Leakey as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 362 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Real 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 Leakey Average
Leakey Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Leakey
- ●One soil character for all of Leakey
- ●Frost dates read at Leakey's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Leakey's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Leakey
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Leakey, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Leakey averages can't show:
We read public map data around Leakey — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Leakey average
How we know this about Leakey
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 Real 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 Leakey
When does frost risk typically end in Leakey?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Leakey typically lands around Mar 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Leakey?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Leakey typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Leakey?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Leakey sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 6 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 27 to Nov 8, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Leakey?
The federal record around Leakey is light — 21 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (15), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Leakey?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Leakey's scale — its 8b band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Leakey'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 Leakey’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Leakey's own scale — the 362 acres it covers and 21 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Leakey's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 21 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Leakey, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Leakey's boundary and the 362 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Leakey's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Leakey has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Real County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Leakey's 362 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Real County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Real 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 Real County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Leakey's 362 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Leakey you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 362 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Leakey-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasLeakey sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.