Sam Rayburn, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Sam Rayburn, 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 Sam Rayburn 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 Sam Rayburn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Sam Rayburn — the short answer
Sam Rayburn, Texas: USDA zone 9a, about 299 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~299
- Jasper County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Jasper County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Sam Rayburn's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sam Rayburn's 299-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sam Rayburn
Each reading below is measured for Sam Rayburn itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSam Rayburn runs about 299 days between hard freezes (read from Jasper County, the closest normal to Sam Rayburn) — 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
MeasuredSam Rayburn sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Sam Rayburn is in
Sam Rayburn sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sam Rayburn's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jasper County.
What Grows in Sam Rayburn
Every plant below cleared Sam Rayburn's own zone 9a and its 299-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sam Rayburn?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Sam Rayburn
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sam Rayburn. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PINEY POINT PLAZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- COMMUNITY PROPERTY HOLDINGSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- BROOKELAND GAS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 3.9 mi
- PR-37-64-403Nitrate · 4.6 mi
- BROOKLAND FUEL STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- POLAR BEAR DAIQUIRIS TO GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- MILL CREEK GROCERY & BAITUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- SUN COAST RESOURCESToxics Release Inventory · 5.4 mi
- B AND W TRUCKINGBrownfields · 5.5 mi
- BROOKELAND ISDBrownfields · 5.5 mi
- ROGERSBrownfields · 6.8 mi
- AUTO IMPORTBrownfields · 6.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sam Rayburn'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 Sam Rayburn.
Total Sites
33
within ~10 miles of Sam Rayburn
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sam Rayburn
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sam Rayburn
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Sam Rayburn
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 Sam Rayburn average
Your land is one point inside Sam Rayburn
Everything above resolves to Sam Rayburn as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jasper 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 Sam Rayburn Average
Sam Rayburn Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Sam Rayburn
- ●One soil character for all of Sam Rayburn
- ●Frost dates read at Sam Rayburn's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sam Rayburn's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sam Rayburn
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sam Rayburn, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sam Rayburn averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sam Rayburn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sam Rayburn average
How we know this about Sam Rayburn
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 Jasper 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 Sam Rayburn
When does frost risk typically end in Sam Rayburn?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sam Rayburn typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Sam Rayburn?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sam Rayburn typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 299 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sam Rayburn?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sam Rayburn sees about 299 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 20, about 264 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sam Rayburn?
The federal record around Sam Rayburn is light — 33 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (17), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Sam Rayburn?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sam Rayburn's scale — its 9a band and its 299-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sam Rayburn'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 Sam Rayburn’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Sam Rayburn's own scale — the 5,357 acres it covers and 33 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sam Rayburn's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 33 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sam Rayburn, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sam Rayburn's boundary and the 5,357 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~299-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sam Rayburn's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Sam Rayburn has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jasper County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sam Rayburn's 5,357 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jasper County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jasper 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 Jasper County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sam Rayburn's 5,357 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sam Rayburn you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,357 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Sam Rayburn-wide figureread your own land →
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