Refugio, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Refugio, 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 Refugio 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 Refugio — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Refugio — the short answer
Refugio, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 317 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 28
- Refugio County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Refugio County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~317
- Refugio County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Refugio County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Refugio's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Refugio's 317-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Refugio
Each reading below is measured for Refugio itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRefugio runs about 317 days between hard freezes (read from Refugio County, the closest normal to Refugio) — 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
MeasuredRefugio sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Refugio is in
Refugio sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Refugio's own centroid rather than borrowed from Refugio County.
What Grows in Refugio
Every plant below cleared Refugio's own zone 9b and its 317-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Refugio?
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 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — 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 Refugio
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Refugio. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STRIPES 9847Underground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- CIRCLE K STORE 2706979Underground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- PATSY RUTH WILLIAMSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- DIAMOND SHAMROCK UNIT 422Underground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- DANS APPLIANCE SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40810Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- CORNER STORE 422Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- GUADALUPE F SOLISUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- KPL SOUTH TEXAS, LLC, REFUGIO STATIONBrownfields · 800 ft
- EXXON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- FAST STOP 1Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- AJS BBQ STEAKHOUSE & BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Refugio'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 Refugio.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Refugio
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Refugio
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Refugio, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Refugio — Nitrate (30 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (68 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Refugio
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 Refugio average
Your land is one point inside Refugio
Everything above resolves to Refugio as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Refugio 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 Refugio Average
Refugio Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Refugio
- ●One soil character for all of Refugio
- ●Frost dates read at Refugio's scale: Jan 28 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Refugio's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Refugio
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Refugio, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Refugio averages can't show:
We read public map data around Refugio — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Refugio average
How we know this about Refugio
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 Refugio 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 Refugio
When does frost risk typically end in Refugio?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Refugio typically lands around Jan 28, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Refugio?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Refugio typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 317 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Refugio?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Refugio sees about 317 frost-free days — roughly Jan 28 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 18 to Nov 27, about 282 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Refugio?
The federal record around Refugio shows 106 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (68), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Refugio?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Refugio's scale — its 9b band and its 317-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Refugio'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 Refugio’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Refugio's own scale — the 1,007 acres it covers and 106 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Refugio's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 106 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Refugio, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Refugio's boundary and the 1,007 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~317-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Refugio's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Refugio has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Refugio County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Refugio's 1,007 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Refugio County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Refugio 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 Refugio County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Refugio's 1,007 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Refugio you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,007 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Refugio-wide figureread your own land →
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