Primera, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Primera, 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 Primera 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 Primera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Primera — the short answer
Primera, Texas: USDA zone 10a, about 335 days between hard freezes, across 2K 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
- 2K 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 Primera's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Primera's 335-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Primera
Each reading below is measured for Primera itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPrimera runs about 335 days between hard freezes (read from Cameron County, the closest normal to Primera) — 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
MeasuredPrimera 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 Primera is in
Primera sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Primera's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cameron County.
What Grows in Primera
Every plant below cleared Primera'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 Primera?
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. 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 Primera
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Primera. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PEREZ MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- MR G FOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40704Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- STRIPES 7078Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- CHEMICAL RESPONSE & REMEDIATION CONTRACTORSBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- VALLEY CO-OP OIL MILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- VALLEY SOLVENT COMPANY INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.9 mi
- GEORGE M ADAMS SRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- WIL-RON MANUFACTURINGBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- WIL-RON MANUFACTURINGToxics Release Inventory · 2.0 mi
- PRIME TIMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40703Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Primera'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 Primera.
Total Sites
412
within ~10 miles of Primera
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
30 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Primera
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Primera
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Primera, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Primera — Toxics Release Inventory (30 sites) and PFAS (4 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Primera
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 Primera average
Your land is one point inside Primera
Everything above resolves to Primera as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K 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 Primera Average
Primera Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Primera
- ●One soil character for all of Primera
- ●Frost dates read at Primera's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Primera's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Primera
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Primera, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Primera averages can't show:
We read public map data around Primera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Primera average
How we know this about Primera
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 Primera
When does frost risk typically end in Primera?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Primera 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 Primera?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Primera 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 Primera?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Primera 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 Primera?
The federal record around Primera is a meaningful one — 412 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (296), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Primera?
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 Primera's scale — its 10a band and its 335-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Primera'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 Primera’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Primera's own scale — the 1,777 acres it covers and 412 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Primera's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 412 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Primera, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Primera's boundary and the 1,777 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 Primera's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Primera 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 Primera's 1,777 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 Primera's 1,777 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Primera you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,777 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 Primera-wide figureread your own land →