Sonora, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Sonora, 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 Sonora 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 Sonora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Sonora — the short answer
Sonora, Texas: USDA zone 8a, about 251 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 11
- Sutton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 17
- Sutton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~251
- Sutton County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Sutton County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is Sonora's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sonora's 251-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sonora
Each reading below is measured for Sonora itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSonora runs about 251 days between hard freezes (read from Sutton County, the closest normal to Sonora) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredSonora sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
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 Sonora is in
Sonora sits in the Edwards Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Sonora's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sutton County.
What Grows in Sonora
Every plant below cleared Sonora's own zone 8a and its 251-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sonora?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Sonora
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sonora. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- XS-55-27-604Nitrate · 800 ft
- 300 E OAK STUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- ALS OIL & LUBEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- SONORA TIRE SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- BRONCHO FORD SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- STRIPES 191Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- REESE CONSTRUCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- SONORA WELL SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- SMITTYSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WHITWORTH GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- TEAFF OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MACKS SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sonora'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 Sonora.
Total Sites
38
within ~10 miles of Sonora
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sonora
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sonora
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sonora, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sonora — Toxics Release Inventory (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (29 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Sonora
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 Sonora average
Your land is one point inside Sonora
Everything above resolves to Sonora as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Sutton 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 Sonora Average
Sonora Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across Sonora
- ●One soil character for all of Sonora
- ●Frost dates read at Sonora's scale: Mar 11 to Nov 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sonora's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sonora
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sonora, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sonora averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sonora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sonora average
How we know this about Sonora
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 Sutton 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 Sonora
When does frost risk typically end in Sonora?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sonora typically lands around Mar 11, 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 Apr 1.
When is the first frost in Sonora?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sonora typically arrives around Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 3, so the watching starts about Oct 18 — about 251 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sonora?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sonora sees about 251 frost-free days — roughly Mar 11 through Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 1 to Nov 3, about 216 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sonora?
The federal record around Sonora is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (29), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Sonora?
From about Oct 18 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sonora's scale — its 8a band and its 251-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sonora'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 Sonora’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Sonora's own scale — the 1,425 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sonora's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sonora, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sonora's boundary and the 1,425 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~251-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sonora's own centroid, the Edwards PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Sonora has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Sutton County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sonora's 1,425 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sutton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sutton 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 Sutton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sonora's 1,425 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sonora you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,425 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Sonora-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasSonora sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides