Ozona, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Ozona, 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 Ozona 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 Ozona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Ozona — the short answer
Ozona, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 255 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 8
- Crockett County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 18
- Crockett County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~255
- Crockett County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Crockett County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Ozona's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ozona's 255-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ozona
Each reading below is measured for Ozona itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOzona runs about 255 days between hard freezes (read from Crockett County, the closest normal to Ozona) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredOzona sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Ozona is in
Ozona sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ozona's own centroid rather than borrowed from Crockett County.
What Grows in Ozona
Every plant below cleared Ozona's own zone 8a and its 255-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ozona?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Ozona
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ozona. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MANESS KEYSTOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- OZONA FUELLOCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- STRIPES 268Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- TRETOS TIRE AND LUBEUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- JAMES BOB CHILDRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- RIO GRANDE DISTRIBUTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- STRIPES 269Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- STRIPES 5043Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- STOKES DRILLINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CHARLES PREDDYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- THE LITTLE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- TEXAS DEPT OF PUBLIC SAFETYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ozona'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 Ozona.
Total Sites
38
within ~10 miles of Ozona
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ozona
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ozona
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ozona, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ozona — Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (28 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Ozona
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 Ozona average
Your land is one point inside Ozona
Everything above resolves to Ozona as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Crockett 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 Ozona Average
Ozona Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Ozona
- ●One soil character for all of Ozona
- ●Frost dates read at Ozona's scale: Mar 8 to Nov 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ozona's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ozona
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ozona, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ozona averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ozona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ozona average
How we know this about Ozona
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 Crockett 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 Ozona
When does frost risk typically end in Ozona?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ozona typically lands around Mar 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 29.
When is the first frost in Ozona?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ozona typically arrives around Nov 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 4, so the watching starts about Oct 19 — about 255 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ozona?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ozona sees about 255 frost-free days — roughly Mar 8 through Nov 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 29 to Nov 4, about 220 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ozona?
The federal record around Ozona is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (28), 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 Ozona?
From about Oct 19 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ozona's scale — its 8a band and its 255-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ozona'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 Ozona’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Ozona's own scale — the 2,986 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ozona's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ozona, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ozona's boundary and the 2,986 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~255-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ozona's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ozona has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Crockett County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ozona's 2,986 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Crockett County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Crockett 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 Crockett County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ozona's 2,986 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ozona you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,986 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 Ozona-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasOzona sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.