What Grows in Artesia, California

USDA Zones 10a · 1K acres

Artesia, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.

The conditions favor artichoke, meyer lemon, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Artesia, 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 Artesia 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 Artesia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Artesia — the short answer

Artesia, California: USDA zone 10a, no 28°F killing freeze on record — the season is year-round, across 1K acres of city.

USDA zone
10a
USDA PHZM 2023
Killing freeze
None on record
NOAA RCC ACIS 1991–2020, this town’s own record
City area
1K acres
US Census TIGER/Line 2025

Every figure names the dataset it came from. The year-round finding is measured — a 30-year record with no 28°F killing freeze in it — never inferred from missing dates.

Hardiness Zone Range

10a10a
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 10a is Artesia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Artesia's no killing freeze on record, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Artesia

Each reading below is measured for Artesia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Winter hardiness

Measured

Artesia sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.

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 Artesia is in

Artesia sits in the Southern California/Northern Baja Coast — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Artesia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Los Angeles County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Artesia

Every plant below cleared Artesia's own zone 10a. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.

artichoke, photograph
Growing artichoke in CaliforniaZones 7–11Artesia's 10a — 3 zones of cold margin.
Meyer lemon, photograph
California meyer lemon guideZones 9–11Artesia's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in CaliforniaZones 6–10Artesia's 10a — 4 zones of cold margin.
cabbage, photograph
Cabbage: California growing notesZones 2–11Artesia's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
avocado, photograph
Growing avocado in CaliforniaZones 9–11Artesia's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
rosemary, photograph
California rosemary guideZones 8–10Artesia's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens in CaliforniaZones 2–11Artesia's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
banana, photograph
Banana: California growing notesZones 9–11Artesia's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
ashwagandha, photograph
Growing ashwagandha in CaliforniaZones 8–12Artesia's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
kale, photograph
California kale guideZones 2–11Artesia's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
citrus, photograph
Citrus in CaliforniaZones 9–11Artesia's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
potato, photograph
Potato: California growing notesZones 2–11Artesia's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Growing garlic in CaliforniaZones 2–10Artesia's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
cassava, photograph
California cassava guideZones 8–12Artesia's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
eggplant, photograph
Eggplant in CaliforniaZones 2–12Artesia's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: California growing notesZones 3–10Artesia's 10a — 7 zones of cold margin.
salvia, photograph
Growing salvia in CaliforniaZones 2–11Artesia's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
Apache plume, photograph
California apache plume guideZones 5–11Artesia's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
bougainvillea, photograph
Bougainvillea in CaliforniaZones 9–11Artesia's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
lantana, photograph
Lantana: California growing notesZones 10–11Artesia's 10a is its exact cold limit.
scabiosa, photograph
Growing scabiosa in CaliforniaZones 4–11Artesia's 10a — 6 zones of cold margin.
holly, photograph
California holly guideZones 5–11Artesia's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
jasmine, photograph
Jasmine in CaliforniaZones 9–11Artesia's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
mountain laurel, photograph
Mountain laurel: California growing notesZones 5–11Artesia's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
moringa, photograph
Growing moringa in CaliforniaZones 9–12Artesia's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
Vuda blue grass, photograph
California vuda blue grass guideZones 8–13Artesia's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
ajuga, photograph
Ajuga in CaliforniaZones 5–11Artesia's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
palo verde, photograph
Palo verde: California growing notesZones 8–11Artesia's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
cogon grass, photograph
Growing cogon grass in CaliforniaZones 8–13Artesia's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
liriope, photograph
California liriope guideZones 5–11Artesia's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.

What's on the federal record near Artesia

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Artesia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. ABC UNIFIEDBrownfields · 650 ft
  2. ABC UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
  3. 99 RANCH MARKET #17Brownfields · 1100 ft
  4. Frontier California: Artesia COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
  5. FRONTIER CALIFORNIA INCBrownfields · 1200 ft
  6. EILEEN MANUELBrownfields · 1200 ft
  7. GENERAL TELEPHONE OF CABrownfields · 1400 ft
  8. ANNA BELLE A CUYONG DMDBrownfields · 1400 ft
  9. LA COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICTBrownfields · 1500 ft
  10. ARTESIA AUTOBrownfields · 1500 ft
  11. HENRY SCHOLTEBrownfields · 1600 ft
  12. WALGREENS #5773Brownfields · 1700 ft

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Artesia'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 Artesia.

Total Sites

16,678

within ~10 miles of Artesia

Risk Level

High

Highest-severity

93 Superfund sites

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Artesia

High50Moderate2,087Low14,541

Highest-Severity Sites

Bellflower - Somerset Mwc
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Bellflower Municipal Water System
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
California Water Service CO. - Dominguez
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Cerritos - City, Water Dept.
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
City of Bell Gardens
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Artesia, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 14,539 sites within ~10 miles of Artesia. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.

Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.

Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Artesia

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 Artesia average

Your land is one point inside Artesia

Everything above resolves to Artesia as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K acres. 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 Artesia Average

Artesia Average

  • USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Artesia
  • One soil character for all of Artesia
  • State-average frost dates

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Artesia's 10a
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Artesia

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Artesia, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Artesia averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free daysYour sun & shade

We read public map data around Artesia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Artesia average

How we know this about Artesia

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, with the labelled statewide window where none resolves; 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 Artesia

Is it too late to plant in Artesia?

No — Artesia has no 28°F killing freeze in the 30-year station record, so the growing season is year-round and there is no last-frost date to wait for. Planting is paced by rainfall, heat and daylength instead of by frost: start heat-lovers any month, and time cool-season crops (lettuce, brassicas, peas) for the cooler, wetter half of the year or for higher ground. Succession sowing every few weeks works all year, so the limit is what you can keep watered and harvested, not the calendar.

When does frost risk typically end in Artesia?

It doesn't — Artesia records no 28°F killing freeze at all across the 1991–2020 station record, so there is no spring frost date to plant after. Cold still matters with elevation: the higher you garden, the cooler the nights, and a few tropical crops sulk below about 60°F even where they never freeze.

How long is the growing season in Artesia?

Year-round — the 1991–2020 station record for Artesia contains no 28°F killing freeze, so there is no season to measure between freezes. What paces planting instead is heat, rainfall and daylength: the hottest, wettest stretch is the hard part for cool-season crops, not winter. Elevation is the one real exception — the higher you garden, the colder the nights get.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Artesia?

The federal record around Artesia runs heavier than most — 16,678 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (14,539), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.

Everything above is measured at Artesia's scale — its 10a band and its no killing freeze on record. Your yard writes its own version of Artesia'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 Artesia’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at Artesia's own scale — the 1,037 acres it covers and 16,678 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Artesia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
  • No 28°F killing freeze in the 30-year station record covering Artesia — a year-round growing seasonNOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
  • 16,678 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Artesia, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Artesia's boundary and the 1,037 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear Artesia's hardiness zoneGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Artesia's own centroid, the Southern California/Northern Baja CoastUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Artesia's 1,037 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Los Angeles County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Los Angeles County
  • The growing challenges every California grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom California
  • Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Los Angeles County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Artesia's 1,037 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Artesia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,037 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Artesia-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address