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Place guide

Planting zones in Eagle Pass, TX

Every ZIP code in this metro is USDA zone 9a. That is unusual — most metros span several zones — and it means the one number people usually look up is the same wherever you are here.

USDA zone 9a The same in all 3 ZIP codes
ZIP codes 3 3 have a NOAA station within range
Weather stations 2 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 1,279 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Eagle Pass, TX 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.

Works for all 40,502 US ZIP codes. Freeze dates need a NOAA station within 100 km; where there is none, the page says so rather than estimating one.

What you can sow in Eagle Pass, TX now

4 of 32 crops that every one of the 2 NOAA stations serving this metro area agrees still has time to mature — with a week in hand, so this holds until the page is next rebuilt.

Counted against a first fall freeze of November 22 – December 1 across 2 of those stations, NOAA 1991–2020 normals.

A further 4 crops depend on where in Eagle Pass, TX you are — its stations disagree about them. The ZIP lookup above settles it for one address.

Growing season across Eagle Pass, TX A one-year bar. Every one of the 2 NOAA stations serving this metro area counts March 5 to November 22 as growing season, 262 days. At least one counts February 19 to December 1, 285 days. The same figures are written out below this chart. JFMAMJJASONDMarch 5November 22

All 2 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 2 NOAA stations serving this metro area counts March 5 – November 22 as growing season (262 days). Widening to any single station gives February 19 – December 1 (285 days).

That is a 23-day difference inside one metro area — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze February 19 – March 5
First fall freeze November 22 – December 1

Those are the earliest and latest medians among the 2 stations serving this metro — not an average, and not one station standing in for the rest. Half of years freeze later than a station's own median.

The spread is the point. Even in a metro that is one hardiness zone throughout, its stations disagree about the last spring freeze. Hardiness zone and frost date measure different things — a zone is the average annual coldest night, a freeze date is when the season turns — and a place can be uniform in one and varied in the other. Use the tools below with your own ZIP rather than the ends of this range.

Your growing season

NOAA publishes a growing-season length for each station, and across the 2 stations serving Eagle Pass, TX it runs 265–287 days . That figure is published, not computed from the two freeze dates — subtracting one from the other gives the wrong answer wherever a season crosses New Year. Mean summer high (June–August) runs 97–99 °F , at or above the 90 °F point where cool-season crops bolt and tomato and pepper pollen fails — so midsummer sowings of lettuce and its relatives are worth holding here. Summer rain over the same months runs 5.0–6.0" across those 2 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 46% 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 99 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

When to start seeds in Eagle Pass, TX

Every spring job for 63 crop dates, counted from this metro's own last spring freeze. Each is a range across all 2 stations — the earliest and latest that job falls anywhere in the metro — because no one station speaks for the whole area.

Crop Job When Offset
Broccoli Start indoors January 8 – January 22 6 weeks before
Cabbage Start indoors January 8 – January 22 6 weeks before
Collards Start indoors January 8 – January 22 6 weeks before
Green Onions Start indoors January 8 – December 25 8 weeks before
Kale Start indoors January 8 – January 22 6 weeks before
Leaf Lettuce Start indoors January 8 – January 22 6 weeks before
Peas Direct sow January 8 – January 22 6 weeks before
Peppers Start indoors January 8 – December 25 8 weeks before
Spinach Direct sow January 8 – January 22 6 weeks before
Sweet Potato Start indoors January 8 – January 22 6 weeks before
Tomatoes Start indoors January 8 – January 22 6 weeks before
Bok Choy Start indoors January 15 – January 29 5 weeks before
Kohlrabi Start indoors January 15 – January 29 5 weeks before
Swiss Chard Start indoors January 15 – January 29 5 weeks before
Arugula Direct sow January 22 – February 5 4 weeks before
Baby Salad Greens Direct sow January 22 – February 5 4 weeks before
Beets Direct sow January 22 – February 5 4 weeks before
Green Onions Direct sow January 22 – February 5 4 weeks before
Mustard Greens Direct sow January 22 – February 5 4 weeks before
Okra Start indoors January 22 – February 5 4 weeks before
Radishes Direct sow January 22 – February 5 4 weeks before
Turnips Direct sow January 22 – February 5 4 weeks before
Cabbage Set out January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Carrots Direct sow January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Collards Direct sow January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Collards Set out January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Cucumbers Start indoors January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Green Onions Set out January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Kale Direct sow January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Kale Set out January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Kohlrabi Direct sow January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Kohlrabi Set out January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Leaf Lettuce Direct sow January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Pumpkins Start indoors January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Summer Squash Start indoors January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Winter Squash Start indoors January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Zucchini Start indoors January 29 – February 12 3 weeks before
Bok Choy Direct sow February 5 – February 19 2 weeks before
Bok Choy Set out February 5 – February 19 2 weeks before
Broccoli Set out February 5 – February 19 2 weeks before
Cilantro Direct sow February 5 – February 19 2 weeks before
Leaf Lettuce Set out February 5 – February 19 2 weeks before
Swiss Chard Direct sow February 5 – February 19 2 weeks before
Swiss Chard Set out February 5 – February 19 2 weeks before
Dill Direct sow February 12 – February 26 1 week before
Bush Beans Direct sow February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Cucumbers Set out February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Pumpkins Direct sow February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Pumpkins Set out February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Summer Squash Direct sow February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Summer Squash Set out February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Sweet Corn Direct sow February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Tomatoes Set out February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Winter Squash Direct sow February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Winter Squash Set out February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Zucchini Direct sow February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Zucchini Set out February 26 – March 12 1 week after
Cucumbers Direct sow March 5 – March 19 2 weeks after
Okra Direct sow March 5 – March 19 2 weeks after
Okra Set out March 5 – March 19 2 weeks after
Peppers Set out March 5 – March 19 2 weeks after
Southern Peas Direct sow March 5 – March 19 2 weeks after
Sweet Potato Set out March 5 – March 19 2 weeks after

The week offsets are conventional extension guidance and vary by variety; the freeze dates they are counted from are measured. For a single date rather than a range, run when do I start my seeds? with your own ZIP code.

What lives through a zone 9a winter

Winter hardiness runs on the zone alone, so this one is exact for the whole of Eagle Pass, TX rather than a range. Of 74 perennial fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and herbs, 46 come through a zone 9a winter — and 25 of the failures are not about cold at all, but about winters too mild to break dormancy or summers too hot.

Among them: Elderberry, Horseradish, Sunchoke, Walking Onion, Chives, Mint, American Persimmon, European Plum. See the full list with reasons.

How certain the freeze dates are in Eagle Pass, TX Two rows. Each runs from the cautious date, which shortens the growing season, to the optimistic one. The median dates sit between them. Every figure is repeated in the text below this chart. JFMAMJJASONDLast spring freezeFirst fall freeze

Cautious — shortens the seasonMedian across stationsOptimistic

Last spring freeze
Plan to March 30 to be careful. Median February 19 – March 5 across 2 stations; January 22 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze
Plan to November 6 to be careful. Median November 22 – December 1 across 2 stations; December 23 is the optimistic end.

NOAA publishes these as probabilities, not averages — the middle figure is a median, so half of years fall either side of it. The cautious end is the 10% tail: in roughly nine years in ten the freeze falls on the safe side of it.

The 2 stations behind these numbers

The 2 NOAA stations serving Eagle Pass, TX A relative sketch of where the stations sit, about 30 kilometres north to south. Each is named with its NOAA identifier in the station list on this page, which carries the same information as text. CARRIZO SPRINGS 3S, TX US (USC00411486)EAGLE PASS 3N, TX US (USC00412679) ~30 km north to south

All 2 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 30 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 metro area.

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.

Every figure above comes from these, and each is named so you can check it. Which station serves a given ZIP code, and how far away it is, varies across the metro — the table below gives it per ZIP code rather than this page averaging it.

Station NOAA ID Last spring freeze First fall freeze Season
Carrizo Springs 3S, TX USC00411486 March 5 November 22 265 days
Eagle Pass 3N, TX USC00412679 February 19 December 1 287 days

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

Every ZIP code in Eagle Pass, TX

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per metro area, so this is the exact answer rather than the metro area'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
78852 9a Eagle Pass 3N, TX 32.2 km
78860 9a Carrizo Springs 3S, TX 36.3 km
78877 9a Eagle Pass 3N, TX 25.1 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.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

Each of these takes a ZIP code and answers for that ZIP alone, citing the station it used and how far away it is. There is a ZIP box in the header of every page.

Other places to compare

These metros are also entirely zone 9a, so the winter answer here is the same one they get — the freeze dates and the spring calendar are their own.

Gardening in Texas — zones 6b– 10b covers the whole state: how its 1,979 ZIP codes divide between 9 hardiness zones, and the freeze dates across every NOAA station in it.

Other metro areas in TX:

All 388 metro areas, by state

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.

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

The hardiness zone is the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. The freeze dates are NOAA's 1991–2020 Climate Normals, read from every station whose normals cover a ZIP code in this metro. Nothing here is estimated, and no station stands in for another.

This page names no single station on purpose. Picking one to represent a metro sounds reasonable and is not: the station serving the most ZIP codes is an artifact of where ZIP centroids happen to fall, and it selects a lock on the Monongahela for Pittsburgh and a far southern suburb for Chicago. A range across every station is true; a single cited date for a whole metro is not.

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