Paint Rock, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Paint Rock, 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 Paint Rock 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 Paint Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Paint Rock — the short answer
Paint Rock, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 6
- Concho County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Concho County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- Concho County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Concho County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Paint Rock's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paint Rock's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paint Rock
Each reading below is measured for Paint Rock itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPaint Rock runs about 261 days between hard freezes (read from Concho County, the closest normal to Paint Rock) — 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
MeasuredPaint Rock 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 Paint Rock is in
Paint Rock sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Paint Rock's own centroid rather than borrowed from Concho County.
What Grows in Paint Rock
Every plant below cleared Paint Rock's own zone 8a and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Paint Rock?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 Paint Rock
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paint Rock. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BOBS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- PAINT ROCK GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- PAINT ROCK ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- FOUR CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
Measured from Paint Rock'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 Paint Rock.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paint Rock
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Paint Rock
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 Paint Rock average
Your land is one point inside Paint Rock
Everything above resolves to Paint Rock as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Concho 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 Paint Rock Average
Paint Rock Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Paint Rock
- ●One soil character for all of Paint Rock
- ●Frost dates read at Paint Rock's scale: Mar 6 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paint Rock's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paint Rock
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paint Rock, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paint Rock averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paint Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paint Rock average
How we know this about Paint Rock
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 Concho 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 Paint Rock
When does frost risk typically end in Paint Rock?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paint Rock 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 Paint Rock?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paint Rock 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 Paint Rock?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paint Rock 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 Paint Rock?
The federal record around Paint Rock is light — 4 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (4), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Paint Rock?
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 Paint Rock's scale — its 8a band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paint Rock'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 Paint Rock’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Paint Rock's own scale — the 1,052 acres it covers and 4 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paint Rock's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 4 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paint Rock, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paint Rock's boundary and the 1,052 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Paint Rock's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Paint Rock has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Concho County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Paint Rock's 1,052 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Concho County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Concho 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 Concho County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Paint Rock's 1,052 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paint Rock you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,052 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Paint Rock-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasPaint Rock sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.