Roma, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Roma, 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 Roma 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 Roma — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Roma — the short answer
Roma, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 322 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 21
- Starr County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Starr County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~322
- Starr County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Starr County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Roma's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Roma's 322-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Roma
Each reading below is measured for Roma itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRoma runs about 322 days between hard freezes (read from Starr County, the closest normal to Roma) — 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
MeasuredRoma 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 Roma is in
Roma sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Roma's own centroid rather than borrowed from Starr County.
What Grows in Roma
Every plant below cleared Roma's own zone 9b and its 322-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Roma?
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 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Roma
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Roma. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LIL RICKS MART AND GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- RAMIREZ DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- RIVERVIEW GAS EXPRESS 1Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- G & C CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #3273Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- EL PAISANOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- LA PIEDADUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- O MARIASUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- SIX PACK CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- EL TIGRE FOOD STORE 23Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- MARIS TWO WAY STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CHARLIES DRIVE INUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Roma'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 Roma.
Total Sites
39
within ~10 miles of Roma
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Roma
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Roma
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Roma, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 35 sites within ~10 miles of Roma. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Roma
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 Roma average
Your land is one point inside Roma
Everything above resolves to Roma as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Starr 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 Roma Average
Roma Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Roma
- ●One soil character for all of Roma
- ●Frost dates read at Roma's scale: Jan 21 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Roma's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Roma
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Roma, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Roma averages can't show:
We read public map data around Roma — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Roma average
How we know this about Roma
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 Starr 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 Roma
When does frost risk typically end in Roma?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Roma typically lands around Jan 21, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Roma?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Roma typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 322 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Roma?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Roma sees about 322 frost-free days — roughly Jan 21 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 11 to Nov 25, about 287 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Roma?
The federal record around Roma shows 39 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (35), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Roma?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Roma's scale — its 9b band and its 322-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Roma'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 Roma’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Roma's own scale — the 3,751 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Roma's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Roma, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Roma's boundary and the 3,751 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~322-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Roma's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Roma has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Starr County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Roma's 3,751 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Starr County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Starr 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 Starr County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Roma's 3,751 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Roma you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,751 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Roma-wide figureread your own land →
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