Banning, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Banning, 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 Banning 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 Banning — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Banning — the short answer
Banning, California: USDA zone 9b, about 337 days between hard freezes, across 15K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~337
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 15K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Banning's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Banning's 337-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Banning
Each reading below is measured for Banning itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBanning runs about 337 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredBanning 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 Banning is in
Banning sits in the Southern California/Northern Baja Coast — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Banning's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Riverside County is mostly Sonoran Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Banning
Every plant below cleared Banning's own zone 9b and its 337-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Banning?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 26 — 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 Banning
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Banning. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, AT&T MOBILITYBrownfields · 1900 ft
- MICHAEL SANCHEZBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- CHINCHILLAS TRANSPORT INCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- BANNING ARMORYBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- ROBERT BARNETTBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- GENERAL TELPHONE OF CABrownfields · 1.3 mi
- 002S001E33H001SNitrate · 1.4 mi
- INTEGRITY AUTO SERVICEBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- FAMOUS TIRE CO DBA ACCELERATIONS PERFORMANCE & AUTOMOTIVESBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- SELVAGGIO INC DBA PASS AUTO CENTERBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- ALL STAR DODGEBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- BANNING MUFFLER & RADIATORBrownfields · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Banning'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 Banning.
Total Sites
620
within ~10 miles of Banning
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Banning
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Banning
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Banning, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Banning — PFAS (7 sites) and Nitrate (204 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Banning
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 Banning average
Your land is one point inside Banning
Everything above resolves to Banning as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 15K 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 Banning Average
Banning Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Banning
- ●One soil character for all of Banning
- ●Frost dates read at Banning's scale: Jan 23 to Dec 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Banning's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Banning
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Banning, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Banning averages can't show:
We read public map data around Banning — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Banning average
How we know this about Banning
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 Banning’s own record; 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 Banning
When does frost risk typically end in Banning?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Banning typically lands around Jan 23, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Banning?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Banning typically arrives around Dec 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 12, so the watching starts about Nov 26 — about 337 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Banning?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Banning sees about 337 frost-free days — roughly Jan 23 through Dec 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 13 to Dec 12, about 302 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Banning?
The federal record around Banning is a meaningful one — 620 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (360), 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 Banning?
From about Nov 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Banning's scale — its 9b band and its 337-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Banning'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 Banning’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Banning's own scale — its own ~337-day season between 28°F freezes, the 14,871 acres it covers and 620 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Banning's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Banning's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Jan 23 and Dec 26 and the ~337-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 620 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Banning, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Banning's boundary and the 14,871 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~337-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Banning sits in the Southern California/Northern Baja Coast — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Banning's 14,871 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Riverside County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Riverside 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 Riverside County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Banning's 14,871 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Banning you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 14,871 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 Banning-wide figureread your own land →
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