Rocky Mound, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Rocky Mound, 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 Rocky Mound 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 Rocky Mound — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rocky Mound — the short answer
Rocky Mound, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 280 days between hard freezes, across 260 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Camp County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Camp County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~280
- Camp County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 260 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 Camp County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Rocky Mound's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rocky Mound's 280-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rocky Mound
Each reading below is measured for Rocky Mound itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRocky Mound runs about 280 days between hard freezes (read from Camp County, the closest normal to Rocky Mound) — 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
MeasuredRocky Mound 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 Rocky Mound is in
Rocky Mound sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rocky Mound's own centroid rather than borrowed from Camp County.
What Grows in Rocky Mound
Every plant below cleared Rocky Mound'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 Rocky Mound?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — 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 Rocky Mound
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rocky Mound. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BAREFOOT BAY MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- NICKCO RECYCLINGBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- THE VILLAGERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- BZ-35-01-103Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- BZ-35-01-104Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- 1 PITT STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- JOHNSON FUNERAL HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- PILGRIMS PRIDE TRUCK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- PILGRIMS PRIDEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- PITTSBURG FEEDMILLToxics Release Inventory · 3.1 mi
- PITTSBURG FEEDMILLBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- ALLEN ; SON BODY SHOPBrownfields · 3.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rocky Mound'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 Rocky Mound.
Total Sites
187
within ~10 miles of Rocky Mound
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rocky Mound
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rocky Mound
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rocky Mound, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Rocky Mound — PFAS (4 sites) and Nitrate (54 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Rocky Mound
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 Rocky Mound average
Your land is one point inside Rocky Mound
Everything above resolves to Rocky Mound as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 260 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Camp 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 Rocky Mound Average
Rocky Mound Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Rocky Mound
- ●One soil character for all of Rocky Mound
- ●Frost dates read at Rocky Mound's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rocky Mound's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rocky Mound
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rocky Mound, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rocky Mound averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rocky Mound — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rocky Mound average
How we know this about Rocky Mound
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 Camp 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 Rocky Mound
When does frost risk typically end in Rocky Mound?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rocky Mound typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Rocky Mound?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rocky Mound typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 280 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rocky Mound?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rocky Mound sees about 280 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 16, about 245 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rocky Mound?
The federal record around Rocky Mound is a meaningful one — 187 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (98), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.1 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Rocky Mound?
From about Oct 31 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rocky Mound's scale — its 8b band and its 280-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rocky Mound'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 Rocky Mound’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Rocky Mound's own scale — the 260 acres it covers and 187 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rocky Mound's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 187 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rocky Mound, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rocky Mound's boundary and the 260 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 Rocky Mound's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Rocky Mound has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Camp County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rocky Mound's 260 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Camp County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Camp 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 Camp County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rocky Mound's 260 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rocky Mound you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 260 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.1 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 Rocky Mound-wide figureread your own land →
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