Zapata, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Zapata, 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 Zapata 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 Zapata — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Zapata — the short answer
Zapata, Texas: USDA zone 9b, about 327 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 17
- Zapata County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Zapata County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~327
- Zapata 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 Zapata County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Zapata's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Zapata's 327-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Zapata
Each reading below is measured for Zapata itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsZapata runs about 327 days between hard freezes (read from Zapata County, the closest normal to Zapata) — 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
MeasuredZapata 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 Zapata is in
Zapata sits in the Southern Texas Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Zapata's own centroid rather than borrowed from Zapata County.
What Grows in Zapata
Every plant below cleared Zapata's own zone 9b and its 327-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Zapata?
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 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Zapata
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Zapata. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 7 DAY EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ECONOMY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- 7-ELEVEN STORE 40901Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #3427Brownfields · 2500 ft
- RIVERVIEW GAS EXPRESS 2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CORNER STORE 1540Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- TRIPLE J ZAPATAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JUNIORS DRIVE INN & MEAT MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EL TIGRE FOOD STORE 1Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ZAPATA TOWN AND COUNTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- LA MINITA DRIVE THRUUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- HAWKS QUIK PICUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Zapata'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 Zapata.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Zapata
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Zapata, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 45 sites within ~10 miles of Zapata. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Zapata
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 Zapata average
Your land is one point inside Zapata
Everything above resolves to Zapata as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Zapata 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 Zapata Average
Zapata Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Zapata
- ●One soil character for all of Zapata
- ●Frost dates read at Zapata's scale: Jan 17 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Zapata's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Zapata
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Zapata, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Zapata averages can't show:
We read public map data around Zapata — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Zapata average
How we know this about Zapata
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 Zapata 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 Zapata
When does frost risk typically end in Zapata?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Zapata typically lands around Jan 17, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Zapata?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Zapata typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 327 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Zapata?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Zapata sees about 327 frost-free days — roughly Jan 17 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 7 to Nov 26, about 292 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Zapata?
The federal record around Zapata shows 48 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (45), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Zapata?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Zapata's scale — its 9b band and its 327-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Zapata'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 Zapata’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Zapata's own scale — the 4,891 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Zapata's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Zapata, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Zapata's boundary and the 4,891 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~327-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Zapata's own centroid, the Southern Texas PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Zapata has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Zapata County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Zapata's 4,891 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Zapata County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Zapata 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 Zapata County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Zapata's 4,891 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Zapata you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,891 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Zapata-wide figureread your own land →