South Padre Island, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, black-eyed pea, tomato, and jalapeno — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Padre Island, 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 Padre Island 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 Padre Island — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Padre Island — the short answer
South Padre Island, Texas: USDA zone 10b, about 335 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Cameron County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 23
- Cameron County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~335
- Cameron County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Cameron County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10b is South Padre Island's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Padre Island's 335-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Padre Island
Each reading below is measured for South Padre Island itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Padre Island runs about 335 days between hard freezes (read from Cameron County, the closest normal to South Padre Island) — 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 Padre Island sits in USDA hardiness zone 10b.
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 Padre Island is in
South Padre Island sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at South Padre Island's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cameron County.
What Grows in South Padre Island
Plants matched to South Padre Island's USDA zones 10b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in South Padre Island?
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 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 23 — 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 Padre Island
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Padre Island. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40742Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- TOWN OF SOUTH PADRE ISLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- MAVERICK MARKET 81Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40748Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- SOUTH PADRE ISLAND 761 CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- EL RANCHO MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SPEEDY PACK ISLAND MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40751Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- JIMS PIER SKIPJACK PROPERTIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- JIMS PIERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40740Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- CIRCLE K 3627Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Padre Island'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 Padre Island.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of South Padre Island
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Padre Island
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Padre Island
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Padre Island, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 43 sites within ~10 miles of South Padre Island. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 South Padre Island
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 Padre Island average
Your land is one point inside South Padre Island
Everything above resolves to South Padre Island as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Cameron 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 Padre Island Average
South Padre Island Average
- ●USDA Zones 10b, averaged across South Padre Island
- ●One soil character for all of South Padre Island
- ●Frost dates read at South Padre Island's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Padre Island's 10b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Padre Island
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Padre Island, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Padre Island averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Padre Island — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Padre Island average
How we know this about South Padre Island
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 Cameron 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 Padre Island
When does frost risk typically end in South Padre Island?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Padre Island typically lands around Jan 22, 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 12.
When is the first frost in South Padre Island?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Padre Island typically arrives around Dec 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 9, so the watching starts about Nov 23 — about 335 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Padre Island?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Padre Island sees about 335 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Dec 9, about 300 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Padre Island?
The federal record around South Padre Island is a meaningful one — 48 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (43), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 South Padre Island?
From about Nov 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Padre Island's scale — its 10b band and its 335-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Padre Island'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 Padre Island’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at South Padre Island's own scale — the 1,721 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Padre Island's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Padre Island, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Padre Island's boundary and the 1,721 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at South Padre Island's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Padre Island has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Cameron County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Padre Island's 1,721 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cameron County
- The candidate plant list — Texas's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Texas
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cameron 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 Cameron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Padre Island's 1,721 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Padre Island you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,721 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Padre Island-wide figureread your own land →