Rocksprings, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Rocksprings, 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 Rocksprings 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 Rocksprings — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rocksprings — the short answer
Rocksprings, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 280 days between hard freezes, across 778 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Edwards County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Edwards County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~280
- Edwards County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 778 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 Edwards County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Rocksprings's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rocksprings's 280-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rocksprings
Each reading below is measured for Rocksprings itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRocksprings runs about 280 days between hard freezes (read from Edwards County, the closest normal to Rocksprings) — 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
MeasuredRocksprings 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 Rocksprings is in
Rocksprings sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Rocksprings's own centroid rather than borrowed from Edwards County.
What Grows in Rocksprings
Every plant below cleared Rocksprings's own zone 8b and its 280-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rocksprings?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Rocksprings
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rocksprings. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JJ-55-63-709Nitrate · 700 ft
- LONE STAR PIPELINE OAKRIDGE COMPRESSORBrownfields · 1500 ft
- GROOMS HARDWARE & PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BEN AND COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- ROCKSPRINGS SHORT STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SOUTHWEST TEXAS TELEPHONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- ROCKSPRINGS TX RCAGUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- ROCKSPRINGS TX VORTACUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- STEVES COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- TEXAS GATHERINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- TXDOT ROCKSPRINGS FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- CLOSED PRIVATE OWNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rocksprings'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 Rocksprings.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rocksprings
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rocksprings
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Rocksprings
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 Rocksprings average
Your land is one point inside Rocksprings
Everything above resolves to Rocksprings as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 778 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Edwards 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 Rocksprings Average
Rocksprings Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Rocksprings
- ●One soil character for all of Rocksprings
- ●Frost dates read at Rocksprings's scale: Feb 22 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rocksprings's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rocksprings
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rocksprings, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rocksprings averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rocksprings — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rocksprings average
How we know this about Rocksprings
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 Edwards 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 Rocksprings
When does frost risk typically end in Rocksprings?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rocksprings typically lands around Feb 22, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Rocksprings?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rocksprings typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 280 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rocksprings?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rocksprings sees about 280 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 15, about 245 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rocksprings?
The federal record around Rocksprings is light — 19 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (16), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Rocksprings?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rocksprings's scale — its 8b band and its 280-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rocksprings'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 Rocksprings’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rocksprings's own scale — the 778 acres it covers and 19 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rocksprings's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 19 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rocksprings, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rocksprings's boundary and the 778 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~280-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rocksprings's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rocksprings has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Edwards County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rocksprings's 778 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Edwards County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Edwards 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 Edwards County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rocksprings's 778 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rocksprings you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 778 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Rocksprings-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasRocksprings sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.