Quemado, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Quemado, 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 Quemado 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 Quemado — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Quemado — the short answer
Quemado, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 313 days between hard freezes, across 73 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 31
- Maverick County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Maverick County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~313
- Maverick County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 73 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 Maverick County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Quemado's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Quemado's 313-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Quemado
Each reading below is measured for Quemado itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsQuemado runs about 313 days between hard freezes (read from Maverick County, the closest normal to Quemado) — 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
MeasuredQuemado sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Quemado is in
Quemado sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Quemado's own centroid rather than borrowed from Maverick County.
What Grows in Quemado
Every plant below cleared Quemado's own zone 9a and its 313-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Quemado?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Quemado
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Quemado. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BURRIS RANCH & PECAN ORCHARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- LA BABIA CATTLE FEEDERSCAFO · 5.1 mi
- RUNNELLS PETERS FEEDYARDCAFO · 5.6 mi
- LOVES GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
Measured from Quemado'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 Quemado.
Total Sites
4
within ~10 miles of Quemado
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 concentrated animal feeding operations
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Quemado
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Quemado
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 Quemado average
Your land is one point inside Quemado
Everything above resolves to Quemado as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 73 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Maverick 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 Quemado Average
Quemado Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Quemado
- ●One soil character for all of Quemado
- ●Frost dates read at Quemado's scale: Jan 31 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Quemado's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Quemado
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Quemado, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Quemado averages can't show:
We read public map data around Quemado — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Quemado average
How we know this about Quemado
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 Maverick 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 Quemado
When does frost risk typically end in Quemado?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Quemado typically lands around Jan 31, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Quemado?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Quemado typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 313 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Quemado?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Quemado sees about 313 frost-free days — roughly Jan 31 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 21 to Nov 26, about 278 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Quemado?
The federal record around Quemado is light — 4 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly CAFO entries (2), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 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 Quemado?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Quemado's scale — its 9a band and its 313-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Quemado'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 Quemado’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Quemado's own scale — the 73 acres it covers and 4 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Quemado's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 4 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Quemado, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Quemado's boundary and the 73 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~313-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Quemado's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Quemado has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Maverick County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Quemado's 73 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Maverick County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Maverick 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 Maverick County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Quemado's 73 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Quemado you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 73 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 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 Quemado-wide figureread your own land →