What USDA hardiness zone is Val Verde County, Texas?

Val Verde County, Texas spans USDA hardiness zones 8b to 9a. 67% of its ZIP codes are zone 8b, so there is no single zone for the county.

When is the last spring frost in Val Verde County, Texas?

The median last spring freeze runs February 14 – March 10 across the 5 NOAA weather stations serving Val Verde County, Texas, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

Texas

Planting zones in Val Verde County, Texas

This county spans USDA zones 8b to 9a, so there is no single zone for Val Verde County and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 67% of its ZIP codes are zone 8b; the rest are not.

USDA zones 8b–9a 2 zones across 6 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 6 6 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 5 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 3,145 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Val Verde County, Texas as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.

The growing season in Val Verde County is closing

Nothing in the 32-crop table still has time to mature here. The first fall freeze normally arrives November 16 – December 6 across the 5 NOAA stations serving this county .

Your next season already has a date

The first job of it is 🧅 Green Onions, start indoors, around January 2 – December 22 — counted back from a last spring freeze of February 14 – March 10 here.

Every spring date for your ZIP →

These are ranges across the whole county. The ZIP lookup above gives the dates from your own nearest station instead.

All 5 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 5 NOAA stations serving this county counts March 10 – November 16 as growing season (251 days). Widening to any single station gives February 14 – December 6 (295 days).

That is a 44-day difference inside one county — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.

Which zone you are in depends where you are

Val Verde County covers 2 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the county one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — fine for the 67% in zone 8b and wrong for the other 33%. Here is the actual split.

Zone	ZIP codes	Share
8b	4	67%
9a	2	33%

Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the county's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze February 14 – March 10

First fall freeze November 16 – December 6

Across the 5 NOAA stations serving this county. These are medians — half of years freeze later than the date shown — so treat the later end of each range as the cautious one.

The growing season runs 251–297 days depending which station you are nearest, as published by NOAA rather than computed from the dates above. Summer highs average 93.3–99.9 °F in June–August. That is past the point where tomato and pepper pollen fails and cool-season greens bolt, so in this county heat decides as much as frost does. Summer rain over the same months runs 4.9–9.2" across those 5 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. The middle station covers about 49% of it, so expect to make up the rest. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 96 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

Every ZIP code in Val Verde County

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per county, so this is the exact answer rather than the county's average. The station column is the nearest one to that ZIP code's centroid and how far away it is — the same figure the tools use, shown here so you can see which ZIP codes are well covered and which are reaching.

ZIP code	USDA zone	Nearest NOAA station	Distance
78837	8b	Hudspeth Rvr Rch, TX	13.2 km
78840	8b	Carta Valley, TX	25.2 km
78841	8b	Langtry, TX	9.2 km
78842	9a	Amistad Dam, TX	20.0 km
78843	9a	Del Rio INTL AP, TX	13.9 km
78871	8b	Langtry, TX	11.7 km

ZIP-code positions are area centroids, so a large rural ZIP code's listed distance is measured from the middle of its area rather than from any particular address in it.

When to start seeds in Val Verde County

Every date below is anchored on the last spring freeze at each station and reported as a range across all 5 of them, because no one station speaks for the county.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
🧅 Green Onions	Start indoors	January 2 – December 22	8 wk before
🌶️ Peppers	Start indoors	January 2 – December 22	8 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Start indoors	January 3 – January 27	6 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Start indoors	January 3 – January 27	6 wk before
🥬 Collards	Start indoors	January 3 – January 27	6 wk before
🥬 Kale	Start indoors	January 3 – January 27	6 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	January 3 – January 27	6 wk before
🫛 Peas	Direct sow	January 3 – January 27	6 wk before
🥬 Spinach	Direct sow	January 3 – January 27	6 wk before
🍠 Sweet Potato	Start indoors	January 3 – January 27	6 wk before
🍅 Tomatoes	Start indoors	January 3 – January 27	6 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Start indoors	January 10 – February 3	5 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Start indoors	January 10 – February 3	5 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Start indoors	January 10 – February 3	5 wk before
🥬 Arugula	Direct sow	January 17 – February 10	4 wk before
🥬 Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	January 17 – February 10	4 wk before
🥕 Beets	Direct sow	January 17 – February 10	4 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Direct sow	January 17 – February 10	4 wk before
🥬 Mustard Greens	Direct sow	January 17 – February 10	4 wk before
🌶️ Okra	Start indoors	January 17 – February 10	4 wk before
🌱 Radishes	Direct sow	January 17 – February 10	4 wk before
🥔 Turnips	Direct sow	January 17 – February 10	4 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Set out	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥕 Carrots	Direct sow	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Direct sow	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Set out	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥒 Cucumbers	Start indoors	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Set out	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Direct sow	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Set out	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Direct sow	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Set out	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🎃 Pumpkins	Start indoors	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🎃 Summer Squash	Start indoors	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🎃 Winter Squash	Start indoors	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥒 Zucchini	Start indoors	January 24 – February 17	3 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Direct sow	January 31 – February 24	2 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Set out	January 31 – February 24	2 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Set out	January 31 – February 24	2 wk before
🌿 Cilantro	Direct sow	January 31 – February 24	2 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Set out	January 31 – February 24	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Direct sow	January 31 – February 24	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Set out	January 31 – February 24	2 wk before
🌿 Dill	Direct sow	February 7 – March 3	1 wk before
🫘 Bush Beans	Direct sow	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Set out	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Direct sow	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Set out	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Direct sow	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Set out	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🌽 Sweet Corn	Direct sow	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🍅 Tomatoes	Set out	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Direct sow	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Set out	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Direct sow	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Set out	February 21 – March 17	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Direct sow	February 28 – March 24	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Direct sow	February 28 – March 24	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Set out	February 28 – March 24	2 wk after
🌶️ Peppers	Set out	February 28 – March 24	2 wk after
🫘 Southern Peas	Direct sow	February 28 – March 24	2 wk after
🍠 Sweet Potato	Set out	February 28 – March 24	2 wk after

Offsets are published guidance; the dates they land on are computed from measured NOAA normals. The seed-starting tool does this for your own ZIP code and counts the days.

What survives the winter changes across Val Verde County

Zone 8b carries 54 of 74 perennial edibles; zone 9a carries 46. The best number is not always the warmest zone — the count peaks in the middle and falls both ways, because the warm end loses plants to insufficient winter chill and summer heat, not to cold.

Hardiness ranges are a judgement, published by growers rather than measured; the zone they are compared against is measured. On a warm-end verdict, check with your local extension service — a coastal zone 8 and an inland zone 8 are not the same summer.

At least one station here freezes across the new year, which puts the two ends of a spread on opposite sides of the calendar. Drawing it would produce a bar spanning almost the whole year and meaning nothing, so none is drawn.

The 5 stations behind these numbers

All 5 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 70 km north to south. Every one is named with its identifier in the station list below — this page does not single one out, because no one station speaks for a whole county.

A relative sketch, not a map with a projection: longitude is adjusted for latitude so the shape is not stretched, and there is no basemap. For the one station nearest a specific address, with its real distance, use the ZIP lookup above.

These are the stations this county's ZIP codes actually cite as nearest — not a claim that each one sits inside its boundary, since a rural ZIP legitimately reaches over it. Every figure above comes from them, and each is named so you can check it.

Station	NOAA ID	Last spring freeze	First fall freeze	Season
Amistad Dam, TX	USC00410225	February 14	December 6	297 days
Carta Valley, TX	USC00411492	March 4	November 20	258 days
Del Rio INTL AP, TX	USW00022010	February 16	December 3	293 days
Hudspeth Rvr Rch, TX	USC00414348	March 10	November 16	251 days
Langtry, TX	USC00415048	February 27	November 27	270 days

These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

This page describes a whole county. Every tool below answers for one ZIP code, which is the grain the underlying data is published at.

Other places to compare

Val Verde County sits in Texas. That page carries the whole state's zone spread, its metro areas, and every other county in it with a page here.

More of Texas

Counties with the same zones — 8b–9a

Matched on the exact zone set, not a dominant zone, so the winter answer on these pages really is the same one as here.

Gear

If you want to act on this

Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.

Shade clothSummer highs here average 96 °F, at or above the 90 °F point where lettuce and spinach bolt and tomato pollen fails.
Row cover and frost clothThe season here closes at the first fall freeze dated above — a cover buys back some of those days at the end.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.

Sources

Where these numbers come from

Hardiness zones are the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. Freeze dates and growing-season lengths are NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, taken per station and cited above by name and NOAA ID.

County boundaries come from the Census ZCTA-to-county relation, which is what places each ZIP code — and which treats parishes, boroughs and census areas as county equivalents. No station is chosen to represent this county: every range above is taken across all of them and the count is stated, because picking one would be a judgement dressed as a measurement.