Port Mansfield, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Port Mansfield, 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 Port Mansfield 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 Port Mansfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Port Mansfield — the short answer
Port Mansfield, Texas: USDA zone 10a, about 338 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Willacy County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 23
- Willacy County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~338
- Willacy 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 Willacy County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Port Mansfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Port Mansfield's 338-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Port Mansfield
Each reading below is measured for Port Mansfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPort Mansfield runs about 338 days between hard freezes (read from Willacy County, the closest normal to Port Mansfield) — 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
MeasuredPort Mansfield 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
What Grows in Port Mansfield
Every plant below cleared Port Mansfield's own zone 10a and its 338-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Port Mansfield?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 19 (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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Port Mansfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Port Mansfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHARLES R JOHNSON AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MOBIL MPTM PORT MANSFIELD WAREHOUSEBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- THE SHORTSTOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- LAGUNA MADRE FUELSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
Measured from Port Mansfield'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 Port Mansfield.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Port Mansfield
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Port Mansfield
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 Port Mansfield average
Your land is one point inside Port Mansfield
Everything above resolves to Port Mansfield as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Willacy 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 Port Mansfield Average
Port Mansfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Port Mansfield
- ●One soil character for all of Port Mansfield
- ●Frost dates read at Port Mansfield's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Port Mansfield's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Port Mansfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Port Mansfield, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Port Mansfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Port Mansfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Port Mansfield average
How we know this about Port Mansfield
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 Willacy 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 Port Mansfield
When does frost risk typically end in Port Mansfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Port Mansfield typically lands around Jan 19, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Port Mansfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Port Mansfield 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 338 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Port Mansfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Port Mansfield sees about 338 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 9, about 303 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Port Mansfield?
The federal record around Port Mansfield is light — 4 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (3), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Port Mansfield?
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 Port Mansfield's scale — its 10a band and its 338-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Port Mansfield'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 Port Mansfield’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Port Mansfield's own scale — the 3,160 acres it covers and 4 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Port Mansfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 4 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Port Mansfield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Port Mansfield's boundary and the 3,160 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~338-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Port Mansfield has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Willacy County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Port Mansfield's 3,160 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Willacy County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Willacy 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 Willacy County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Port Mansfield's 3,160 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Port Mansfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,160 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Port Mansfield-wide figureread your own land →
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