Rockport, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rockport, 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 Rockport 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 Rockport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rockport — the short answer
Rockport, Texas: USDA zone 10a, about 332 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Aransas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 23
- Aransas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~332
- Aransas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 11K 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 Aransas County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Rockport's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rockport's 332-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rockport
Each reading below is measured for Rockport itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRockport runs about 332 days between hard freezes (read from Aransas County, the closest normal to Rockport) — 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
MeasuredRockport 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 Rockport is in
Rockport sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Rockport's own centroid rather than borrowed from Aransas County.
What Grows in Rockport
Every plant below cleared Rockport's own zone 10a and its 332-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rockport?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 25 (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. 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 Rockport
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rockport. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARANSAS COUNTY ISDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- WAL-MART SUPERCENTER 440Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- WALMART SUPERCENTER 440Brownfields · 2400 ft
- MURPHY USA 7098Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- ROCKPORT PLAZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- STRIPES 2147Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SPEEDY STOP 69Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HEB 562Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ROCKPORT TEXACO MAURITZ & COVEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ARANSAS COUNTY ROAD & BRIDGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- AH-79-64-803Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40795Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rockport'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 Rockport.
Total Sites
113
within ~10 miles of Rockport
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rockport
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rockport
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rockport, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 56 sites within ~10 miles of Rockport. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Rockport
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 Rockport average
Your land is one point inside Rockport
Everything above resolves to Rockport as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 11K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Aransas 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 Rockport Average
Rockport Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Rockport
- ●One soil character for all of Rockport
- ●Frost dates read at Rockport's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rockport's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rockport
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rockport, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rockport averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rockport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rockport average
How we know this about Rockport
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 Aransas 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 Rockport
When does frost risk typically end in Rockport?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rockport typically lands around Jan 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Rockport?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rockport 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 332 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rockport?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rockport sees about 332 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Dec 9, about 297 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rockport?
The federal record around Rockport shows 113 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (56), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Rockport?
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 Rockport's scale — its 10a band and its 332-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rockport'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 Rockport’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rockport's own scale — the 10,589 acres it covers and 113 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rockport's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 113 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rockport, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rockport's boundary and the 10,589 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~332-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rockport's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rockport has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Aransas County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rockport's 10,589 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Aransas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Aransas 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 Aransas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rockport's 10,589 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rockport you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,589 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Rockport-wide figureread your own land →
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