Rankin, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rankin, 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 Rankin 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 Rankin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rankin — the short answer
Rankin, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 270 days between hard freezes, across 675 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 27
- Upton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- Upton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~270
- Upton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 675 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 Upton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Rankin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rankin's 270-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rankin
Each reading below is measured for Rankin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRankin runs about 270 days between hard freezes (read from Upton County, the closest normal to Rankin) — 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
MeasuredRankin sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Rankin is in
Rankin sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Rankin's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Upton County is mostly High Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Rankin
Every plant below cleared Rankin's own zone 8b and its 270-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rankin?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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 Rankin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rankin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EDDINS WALCHER COToxics Release Inventory · 950 ft
- BENEDUM STATIONBrownfields · 1000 ft
- RANKIN GASCARD 130347Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- GOSSETT EXXON SERVUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- STRIPES 5018Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WESTERN PETROLEUM 8634Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- HALLIBURTON SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICESBrownfields · 0.8 mi
Measured from Rankin'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 Rankin.
Total Sites
8
within ~10 miles of Rankin
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rankin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rankin
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.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Rankin
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 Rankin average
Your land is one point inside Rankin
Everything above resolves to Rankin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 675 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Upton County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Rankin Average
Rankin Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Rankin
- ●One soil character for all of Rankin
- ●Frost dates read at Rankin's scale: Feb 27 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rankin's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rankin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rankin, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rankin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rankin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rankin average
How we know this about Rankin
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Upton 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Rankin
When does frost risk typically end in Rankin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rankin typically lands around Feb 27, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Rankin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rankin typically arrives around Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 10, so the watching starts about Oct 25 — about 270 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rankin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rankin sees about 270 frost-free days — roughly Feb 27 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 20 to Nov 10, about 235 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rankin?
The federal record around Rankin is light — 8 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (5), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 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 Rankin?
From about Oct 25 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rankin's scale — its 8b band and its 270-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rankin'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 Rankin’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rankin's own scale — the 675 acres it covers and 8 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rankin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 8 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rankin, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rankin's boundary and the 675 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~270-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Rankin sits in the Edwards Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rankin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Upton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rankin's 675 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Upton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Upton 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 Upton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rankin's 675 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rankin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 675 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 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 Rankin-wide figureread your own land →