South La Paloma, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South La Paloma, 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 South La Paloma 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 South La Paloma — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
South La Paloma — the short answer
South La Paloma, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 710 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Jim Wells County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 14
- Jim Wells County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- Jim Wells County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 710 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 Jim Wells County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is South La Paloma's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South La Paloma's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South La Paloma
Each reading below is measured for South La Paloma itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth La Paloma runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from Jim Wells County, the closest normal to South La Paloma) — 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
MeasuredSouth La Paloma 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 South La Paloma is in
South La Paloma sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at South La Paloma's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jim Wells County.
What Grows in South La Paloma
Every plant below cleared South La Paloma's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South La Paloma?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near South La Paloma
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South La Paloma. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FREDS SHELL STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- RESOURCE RECYCLING SERVICESBrownfields · 4.0 mi
- ORANGE GROVE ISD BUS BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- PW-83-01-514Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- ORANGE GROVE MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- CVS PHARMACY # 10841Brownfields · 4.4 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40819Underground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- S M HERSCHAPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- MARKS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- LOWES SUPER S 110Underground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- O G PIT STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- VAUGHN ENERGY SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South La Paloma'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 South La Paloma.
Total Sites
36
within ~10 miles of South La Paloma
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South La Paloma
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South La Paloma
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South La Paloma, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 12 sites within ~10 miles of South La Paloma. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in South La Paloma
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 South La Paloma average
Your land is one point inside South La Paloma
Everything above resolves to South La Paloma as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 710 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jim Wells 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 South La Paloma Average
South La Paloma Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across South La Paloma
- ●One soil character for all of South La Paloma
- ●Frost dates read at South La Paloma's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South La Paloma's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South La Paloma
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South La Paloma, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South La Paloma averages can't show:
We read public map data around South La Paloma — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South La Paloma average
How we know this about South La Paloma
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 Jim Wells 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 South La Paloma
When does frost risk typically end in South La Paloma?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South La Paloma typically lands around Jan 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in South La Paloma?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South La Paloma typically arrives around Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 30, so the watching starts about Nov 14 — about 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South La Paloma?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South La Paloma sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Nov 30, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South La Paloma?
The federal record around South La Paloma is light — 36 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (14), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.4 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 South La Paloma?
From about Nov 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South La Paloma's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South La Paloma'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 South La Paloma’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at South La Paloma's own scale — the 710 acres it covers and 36 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South La Paloma's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 36 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South La Paloma, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South La Paloma's boundary and the 710 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South La Paloma's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South La Paloma has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jim Wells County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South La Paloma's 710 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jim Wells County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jim Wells 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 Jim Wells County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South La Paloma's 710 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South La Paloma you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 710 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.4 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 South La Paloma-wide figureread your own land →
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