Buckhorn, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Buckhorn, 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 Buckhorn 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 Buckhorn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Buckhorn — the short answer
Buckhorn, California: USDA zone 9a, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- Amador County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Amador County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- Amador County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Amador County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Buckhorn's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Buckhorn's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Buckhorn
Each reading below is measured for Buckhorn itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBuckhorn runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from Amador County, the closest normal to Buckhorn) — 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
MeasuredBuckhorn 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 Buckhorn is in
Buckhorn sits in the Sierra Nevada — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Buckhorn's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Amador County is mostly Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Buckhorn
Every plant below cleared Buckhorn's own zone 9a and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Buckhorn?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Buckhorn
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Buckhorn. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PIONEER TRADING POST INCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- Pioneer Trading Post #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CALMILLS INCBrownfields · 2200 ft
- ATLAS FIELD SERVICES, INC.Brownfields · 2500 ft
- BUCKHORN WATER TREATMENT PLANTBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Pioneer Trading Post #2Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- AjaxMining · 0.8 mi
- 007N013E14M001MNitrate · 0.8 mi
- Pine GroveMining · 1.2 mi
- SALT SPRINGS HYDRO PLANTBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- TIGER CREEK PUMP STATIONBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- BeldenMining · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Buckhorn'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 Buckhorn.
Total Sites
132
within ~10 miles of Buckhorn
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Buckhorn
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Buckhorn
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Buckhorn, Mining runs higher than the national average — 55 sites within ~10 miles of Buckhorn. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Buckhorn
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 Buckhorn average
Your land is one point inside Buckhorn
Everything above resolves to Buckhorn as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Amador County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 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 Buckhorn Average
Buckhorn Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Buckhorn
- ●One soil character for all of Buckhorn
- ●Frost dates read at Buckhorn's scale: Feb 21 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Buckhorn's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Buckhorn
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Buckhorn, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Buckhorn averages can't show:
We read public map data around Buckhorn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Buckhorn average
How we know this about Buckhorn
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 Amador 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 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 Buckhorn
When does frost risk typically end in Buckhorn?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Buckhorn typically lands around Feb 21, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Buckhorn?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Buckhorn typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Buckhorn?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Buckhorn sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 25, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Buckhorn?
The federal record around Buckhorn runs heavier than most — 132 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (55), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Buckhorn?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Buckhorn's scale — its 9a band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Buckhorn'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 Buckhorn’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Buckhorn's own scale — the 3,156 acres it covers and 132 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Buckhorn's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 132 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Buckhorn, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Buckhorn's boundary and the 3,156 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Buckhorn sits in the Sierra Nevada — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Buckhorn has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Amador County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Buckhorn's 3,156 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Amador County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Amador 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 Amador County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Buckhorn's 3,156 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Buckhorn you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,156 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Buckhorn-wide figureread your own land →
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