Santa Rita Ranch, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Santa Rita Ranch, 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 Santa Rita Ranch 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 Santa Rita Ranch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Santa Rita Ranch — the short answer
Santa Rita Ranch, Texas: USDA zone 8b, about 292 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 13
- Williamson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Williamson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~292
- Williamson County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Williamson County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Santa Rita Ranch's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Santa Rita Ranch's 292-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Santa Rita Ranch
Each reading below is measured for Santa Rita Ranch itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSanta Rita Ranch runs about 292 days between hard freezes (read from Williamson County, the closest normal to Santa Rita Ranch) — 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
MeasuredSanta Rita Ranch 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 Santa Rita Ranch is in
Santa Rita Ranch sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Santa Rita Ranch's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Williamson County is mostly Texas Blackland Prairies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Santa Rita Ranch
Every plant below cleared Santa Rita Ranch's own zone 8b and its 292-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Santa Rita Ranch?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Santa Rita Ranch
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Santa Rita Ranch. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COPPER RIDGE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- HUDGINSBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- WAG-A-BAG 16Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- QP SEWARD JUNCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- CEFCO 74Underground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- APAC LIBERTY HILL PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 3.1 mi
- CORNER STORE 1588Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- HIGHPOINT POWDER COATINGBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- JDL SERVICESBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- CENTEX MATERIALS - GEORGETOWN RMXToxics Release Inventory · 3.9 mi
- RONALD REAGAN CBPToxics Release Inventory · 3.9 mi
- JIFFY MART 3Underground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Santa Rita Ranch'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 Santa Rita Ranch.
Total Sites
205
within ~10 miles of Santa Rita Ranch
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
19 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Santa Rita Ranch
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Santa Rita Ranch
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Santa Rita Ranch, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Santa Rita Ranch — PFAS (4 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (19 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Santa Rita Ranch
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 Santa Rita Ranch average
Your land is one point inside Santa Rita Ranch
Everything above resolves to Santa Rita Ranch as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Williamson 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 Santa Rita Ranch Average
Santa Rita Ranch Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Santa Rita Ranch
- ●One soil character for all of Santa Rita Ranch
- ●Frost dates read at Santa Rita Ranch's scale: Feb 13 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Santa Rita Ranch's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Santa Rita Ranch
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Santa Rita Ranch, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Santa Rita Ranch averages can't show:
We read public map data around Santa Rita Ranch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Santa Rita Ranch average
How we know this about Santa Rita Ranch
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 Williamson 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 Santa Rita Ranch
When does frost risk typically end in Santa Rita Ranch?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Santa Rita Ranch typically lands around Feb 13, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Santa Rita Ranch?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Santa Rita Ranch typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 292 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Santa Rita Ranch?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Santa Rita Ranch sees about 292 frost-free days — roughly Feb 13 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 6 to Nov 18, about 257 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Santa Rita Ranch?
The federal record around Santa Rita Ranch is a meaningful one — 205 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (129), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 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 Santa Rita Ranch?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Santa Rita Ranch's scale — its 8b band and its 292-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Santa Rita Ranch'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 Santa Rita Ranch’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Santa Rita Ranch's own scale — the 2,531 acres it covers and 205 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Santa Rita Ranch's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 205 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Santa Rita Ranch, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Santa Rita Ranch's boundary and the 2,531 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~292-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Santa Rita Ranch sits in the Edwards Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Santa Rita Ranch has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Williamson County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Santa Rita Ranch's 2,531 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Williamson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Williamson 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 Williamson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Santa Rita Ranch's 2,531 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Santa Rita Ranch you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,531 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.0 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 Santa Rita Ranch-wide figureread your own land →
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