Oilton, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Oilton, 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 Oilton 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 Oilton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Oilton — the short answer
Oilton, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 326 days between hard freezes, across 906 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Webb County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 17
- Webb County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~326
- Webb County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 906 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 Webb County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Oilton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oilton's 326-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oilton
Each reading below is measured for Oilton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOilton runs about 326 days between hard freezes (read from Webb County, the closest normal to Oilton) — 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
MeasuredOilton 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 Oilton is in
Oilton sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Oilton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Webb County.
What Grows in Oilton
Every plant below cleared Oilton's own zone 9b and its 326-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oilton?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 17 — 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 Oilton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oilton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- YZ-84-33-101Nitrate · 1600 ft
- YZ-85-40-601Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- YZ-84-33-707Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- YZ-84-33-603Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- YZ-84-33-602Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- G & G STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- YZ-84-34-406Nitrate · 8.4 mi
Measured from Oilton'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 Oilton.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oilton
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Oilton
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 Oilton average
Your land is one point inside Oilton
Everything above resolves to Oilton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 906 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Webb 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 Oilton Average
Oilton Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Oilton
- ●One soil character for all of Oilton
- ●Frost dates read at Oilton's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oilton's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oilton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oilton, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oilton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oilton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oilton average
How we know this about Oilton
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 Webb 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 Oilton
When does frost risk typically end in Oilton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oilton typically lands around Jan 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Oilton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oilton typically arrives around Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 3, so the watching starts about Nov 17 — about 326 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oilton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oilton sees about 326 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Dec 3, about 291 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oilton?
The federal record around Oilton is light — 13 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (12), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Oilton?
From about Nov 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Oilton's scale — its 9b band and its 326-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oilton'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 Oilton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Oilton's own scale — the 906 acres it covers and 13 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oilton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 13 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oilton, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oilton's boundary and the 906 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~326-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oilton's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Oilton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Webb County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oilton's 906 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Webb County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Webb 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 Webb County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oilton's 906 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oilton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 906 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Oilton-wide figureread your own land →