Palmer, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Palmer, 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 Palmer 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 Palmer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Palmer — the short answer
Palmer, Texas: USDA zone 10a, about 335 days between hard freezes, across 719 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Cameron County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 23
- Cameron County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~335
- Cameron County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 719 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 Cameron County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Palmer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Palmer's 335-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Palmer
Each reading below is measured for Palmer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPalmer runs about 335 days between hard freezes (read from Cameron County, the closest normal to Palmer) — 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
MeasuredPalmer sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
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 Palmer is in
Palmer sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Palmer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cameron County.
What Grows in Palmer
Every plant below cleared Palmer's own zone 10a and its 335-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Palmer?
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 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Palmer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Palmer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JOHNNYS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- EL RANCHITO CONVIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- TECOSVILLE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40782Underground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- KORNER MARKET 3Underground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- CITY OF SAN BENITOPFAS · 3.0 mi
- EAST RIO HONDO WSCPFAS · 3.0 mi
- KORNER MARKET 4Underground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- DIAMOND SHAMROCK 1529Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- OIL RECOVERY SERVICESBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- BNA QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- BIG M FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Palmer'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 Palmer.
Total Sites
436
within ~10 miles of Palmer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Palmer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Palmer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Palmer, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 363 sites within ~10 miles of Palmer. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Palmer
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 Palmer average
Your land is one point inside Palmer
Everything above resolves to Palmer as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 719 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Cameron 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 Palmer Average
Palmer Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Palmer
- ●One soil character for all of Palmer
- ●Frost dates read at Palmer's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Palmer's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Palmer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Palmer, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Palmer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Palmer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Palmer average
How we know this about Palmer
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 Cameron 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 Palmer
When does frost risk typically end in Palmer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Palmer typically lands around Jan 22, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Palmer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Palmer typically arrives around Dec 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 9, so the watching starts about Nov 23 — about 335 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Palmer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Palmer sees about 335 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Dec 9, about 300 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Palmer?
The federal record around Palmer is a meaningful one — 436 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (363), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 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 Palmer?
From about Nov 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 Dec 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Palmer's scale — its 10a band and its 335-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Palmer'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 Palmer’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Palmer's own scale — the 719 acres it covers and 436 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Palmer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 436 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Palmer, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Palmer's boundary and the 719 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~335-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Palmer's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Palmer has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Cameron County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Palmer's 719 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cameron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cameron 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 Cameron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Palmer's 719 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Palmer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 719 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 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 Palmer-wide figureread your own land →