Benton, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Benton, 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 Benton 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 Benton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Benton — the short answer
Benton, California: USDA zone 7a, about 167 days between hard freezes, across 18K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~167
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 18K 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 7a is Benton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Benton's 167-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Benton
Each reading below is measured for Benton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBenton runs about 167 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBenton sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Benton is in
Benton sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Benton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mono County.
What Grows in Benton
Every plant below cleared Benton's own zone 7a and its 167-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Benton?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Benton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Benton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 001S032E31H001MNitrate · 2600 ft
- Benton StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Smalley's MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BENTON TRANSFER STATIONBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- ProspectsMining · 2.5 mi
- BorascoMining · 2.7 mi
- QuailMining · 2.9 mi
- HudsonMining · 2.9 mi
- LyfordMining · 3.0 mi
- Neptune #140, Phenix #141, and Creek Side#142Mining · 3.0 mi
- BentonMining · 3.1 mi
- PowellMining · 3.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Benton'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 Benton.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Benton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Benton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Benton, Mining runs higher than the national average — 67 sites within ~10 miles of Benton. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Benton
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 Benton average
Your land is one point inside Benton
Everything above resolves to Benton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 18K 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 town 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 Benton Average
Benton Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Benton
- ●One soil character for all of Benton
- ●Frost dates read at Benton's scale: May 1 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Benton's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Benton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Benton, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Benton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Benton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Benton average
How we know this about Benton
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Benton’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Benton
When does frost risk typically end in Benton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Benton typically lands around May 1, 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 May 22.
When is the first frost in Benton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Benton typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 167 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Benton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Benton sees about 167 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 1, about 132 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Benton?
The federal record around Benton runs heavier than most — 72 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (67), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Benton?
From about Sep 15 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 Oct 15 (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 Oct 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Benton's scale — its 7a band and its 167-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Benton'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 Benton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Benton's own scale — its own ~167-day season between 28°F freezes, the 18,220 acres it covers and 72 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Benton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Benton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 15 and the ~167-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 72 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Benton, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Benton's boundary and the 18,220 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~167-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Benton's own centroid, the Central Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Benton's 18,220 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mono County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mono 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 Mono County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Benton's 18,220 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Benton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 18,220 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Benton-wide figureread your own land →