Rochelle, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rochelle, 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 Rochelle 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 Rochelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rochelle — the short answer
Rochelle, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 268 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 1
- McCulloch County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- McCulloch County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~268
- McCulloch 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 McCulloch County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Rochelle's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rochelle's 268-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rochelle
Each reading below is measured for Rochelle itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRochelle runs about 268 days between hard freezes (read from McCulloch County, the closest normal to Rochelle) — 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
MeasuredRochelle 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 Rochelle is in
Rochelle sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Rochelle's own centroid rather than borrowed from McCulloch County.
What Grows in Rochelle
Every plant below cleared Rochelle's own zone 8b and its 268-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rochelle?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 1 (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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Rochelle
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rochelle. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROCHELLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- JOHNNY SERVANTEZUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- MELVIN GULF STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- GTSW BRADY MICROWAVE RPTR BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- LOADCRAFT ALLIED PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- BRADY PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- CITY OF BRADY AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- PENN GLASS SANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- BRADY LAKE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- CHRISTYS UPHOLSTERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- IRBY FINA TRUCK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rochelle'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 Rochelle.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rochelle
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rochelle, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 37 sites within ~10 miles of Rochelle. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Rochelle
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 Rochelle average
Your land is one point inside Rochelle
Everything above resolves to Rochelle as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from McCulloch 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 Rochelle Average
Rochelle Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Rochelle
- ●One soil character for all of Rochelle
- ●Frost dates read at Rochelle's scale: Mar 1 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rochelle's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rochelle
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rochelle, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rochelle averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rochelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rochelle average
How we know this about Rochelle
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 McCulloch 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 Rochelle
When does frost risk typically end in Rochelle?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rochelle typically lands around Mar 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Rochelle?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rochelle 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 268 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rochelle?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rochelle sees about 268 frost-free days — roughly Mar 1 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 22 to Nov 10, about 233 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rochelle?
The federal record around Rochelle is light — 39 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Rochelle?
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 Rochelle's scale — its 8b band and its 268-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rochelle'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 Rochelle’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rochelle's own scale — the 1,028 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rochelle's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rochelle, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rochelle's boundary and the 1,028 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~268-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rochelle's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rochelle has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom McCulloch County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rochelle's 1,028 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McCulloch County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McCulloch 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 McCulloch County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rochelle's 1,028 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rochelle you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,028 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 Rochelle-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasRochelle sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides