Bayou La Batre, Alabama, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bayou La Batre, 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 Bayou La Batre 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 Bayou La Batre — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bayou La Batre — the short answer
Bayou La Batre, Alabama: USDA zone 9a, about 297 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 9
- Mobile County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Mobile County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~297
- Mobile County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Mobile County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Bayou La Batre's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bayou La Batre's 297-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bayou La Batre
Each reading below is measured for Bayou La Batre itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBayou La Batre runs about 297 days between hard freezes (read from Mobile County, the closest normal to Bayou La Batre) — 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
MeasuredBayou La Batre sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Bayou La Batre is in
Bayou La Batre sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bayou La Batre's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Mobile County is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Bayou La Batre
Every plant below cleared Bayou La Batre's own zone 9a and its 297-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alabama profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bayou La Batre?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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 Bayou La Batre
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bayou La Batre. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHARK TECH LLCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- BAYOU MARINE PRODUCTS (DEEP SEA)Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- CUTOFF ROAD ASPHALT PLANTBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- RYDER TRUCK RENTALBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- HORIZON SHIPBUILDING, INC.Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- STAR SEAFOODBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Well OO-11 STEELE Mobile Cnty ALNitrate · 0.8 mi
- MASTER MARINE INCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- CITY OF BAYOU LA BATRE POLICE DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CIRCLE K #8250Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- LAMBODAR, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Well OO-3 USGS 302414088144601 Mobile Cnty ALNitrate · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bayou La Batre'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 Bayou La Batre.
Total Sites
178
within ~10 miles of Bayou La Batre
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bayou La Batre
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bayou La Batre
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bayou La Batre, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bayou La Batre — PFAS (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (13 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Bayou La Batre
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 Bayou La Batre average
Your land is one point inside Bayou La Batre
Everything above resolves to Bayou La Batre as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Mobile County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Bayou La Batre Average
Bayou La Batre Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Bayou La Batre
- ●One soil character for all of Bayou La Batre
- ●Frost dates read at Bayou La Batre's scale: Feb 9 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bayou La Batre's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bayou La Batre
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bayou La Batre, Alabama — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bayou La Batre averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bayou La Batre — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bayou La Batre average
How we know this about Bayou La Batre
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Mobile 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Bayou La Batre
When does frost risk typically end in Bayou La Batre?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bayou La Batre typically lands around Feb 9, 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 Mar 2.
When is the first frost in Bayou La Batre?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bayou La Batre typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 297 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bayou La Batre?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bayou La Batre sees about 297 frost-free days — roughly Feb 9 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 2 to Nov 19, about 262 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bayou La Batre?
The federal record around Bayou La Batre is a meaningful one — 178 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (65), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Bayou La Batre?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bayou La Batre's scale — its 9a band and its 297-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bayou La Batre'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 Bayou La Batre’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bayou La Batre's own scale — the 4,794 acres it covers and 178 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bayou La Batre's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 178 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bayou La Batre, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bayou La Batre's boundary and the 4,794 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~297-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bayou La Batre sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bayou La Batre has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Mobile County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bayou La Batre's 4,794 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mobile County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mobile County
- The growing challenges every Alabama grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alabama
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Mobile County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bayou La Batre's 4,794 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bayou La Batre you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,794 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Bayou La Batre-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alabama
Growing region
Nearby growing guides