Moore, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Moore, 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 Moore 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 Moore — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moore — the short answer
Moore, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 302 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Frio County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- Frio County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~302
- Frio County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Frio County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Moore's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moore's 302-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moore
Each reading below is measured for Moore itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMoore runs about 302 days between hard freezes (read from Frio County, the closest normal to Moore) — 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
MeasuredMoore 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 Moore is in
Moore sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Moore's own centroid rather than borrowed from Frio County.
What Grows in Moore
Every plant below cleared Moore's own zone 9a and its 302-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moore?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Moore
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moore. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CRUDE PROCESSINGBrownfields · 600 ft
- BIG STAR TRAVEL PLAZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- MUSQUIZ GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- LUCKY FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ROAD RANGER 270Underground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- KB-68-57-801Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- MORALES FEED LOTSCAFO · 4.9 mi
- KB-68-57-907Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- AIRCRAFT REFINISHERS OF SOUTH TEXASBrownfields · 6.5 mi
- WILBUR-ELLIS CO DEVINEToxics Release Inventory · 7.0 mi
- WILBUR-ELLIS CO DEVINEBrownfields · 7.0 mi
- RANCHO LA PRESA NUEVACAFO · 7.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moore'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 Moore.
Total Sites
63
within ~10 miles of Moore
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moore
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moore
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moore, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Moore. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Moore
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 Moore average
Your land is one point inside Moore
Everything above resolves to Moore as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Frio County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Moore Average
Moore Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Moore
- ●One soil character for all of Moore
- ●Frost dates read at Moore's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moore's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moore
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moore, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moore averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moore — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moore average
How we know this about Moore
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Frio 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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Moore
When does frost risk typically end in Moore?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moore typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Moore?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moore typically arrives around Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 23, so the watching starts about Nov 7 — about 302 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moore?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moore sees about 302 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 23, about 267 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moore?
The federal record around Moore is a meaningful one — 63 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (33), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles 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 Moore?
From about Nov 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Moore's scale — its 9a band and its 302-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moore'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 Moore’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Moore's own scale — the 3,905 acres it covers and 63 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moore's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 63 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moore, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moore's boundary and the 3,905 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~302-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Moore's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Moore has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Frio County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moore's 3,905 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Frio County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Frio 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 Frio County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moore's 3,905 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moore you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,905 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Moore-wide figureread your own land →