Buellton, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Buellton, 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 Buellton 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 Buellton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Buellton — the short answer
Buellton, California: USDA zone 9b, about 319 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~319
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Buellton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Buellton's 319-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Buellton
Each reading below is measured for Buellton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBuellton runs about 319 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
MeasuredBuellton 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 Buellton is in
Buellton sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Buellton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Santa Barbara County.
What Grows in Buellton
Every plant below cleared Buellton's own zone 9b and its 319-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Buellton?
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 24 (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. 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 Buellton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Buellton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- J T TRUCKINGBrownfields · 550 ft
- FOUR COR PIPELINE CO CUYAMABrownfields · 550 ft
- 006N032W12J012SNitrate · 900 ft
- ADVANCED AUTOMOTIVE SOLUTIONSBrownfields · 1000 ft
- MARTYS AUTO AND DIESELBrownfields · 1000 ft
- SPORTING CARS OF SANTA BARBARABrownfields · 1100 ft
- MOLLER RETAIL INC DBA CONSERV FUEL #6114Brownfields · 1200 ft
- EQUILON ENTERPRISESBrownfields · 1300 ft
- GENUINE PARTS CO DBA NAPA AUTO PARTS - LAJ085Brownfields · 1300 ft
- NOHR'S AUTO HAUS INC.Brownfields · 1300 ft
- GILDRED RACING INCBrownfields · 1300 ft
- DIAZ AUTOMOTIVE & TIREBrownfields · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Buellton'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 Buellton.
Total Sites
316
within ~10 miles of Buellton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Buellton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Buellton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Buellton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Buellton — Nitrate (132 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Buellton
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 Buellton average
Your land is one point inside Buellton
Everything above resolves to Buellton 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 Buellton Average
Buellton Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Buellton
- ●One soil character for all of Buellton
- ●Frost dates read at Buellton's scale: Jan 24 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Buellton's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Buellton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Buellton, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Buellton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Buellton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Buellton average
How we know this about Buellton
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 Buellton’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 Buellton
When does frost risk typically end in Buellton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Buellton typically lands around Jan 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Buellton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Buellton 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 319 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Buellton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Buellton sees about 319 frost-free days — roughly Jan 24 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 14 to Nov 25, about 284 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Buellton?
The federal record around Buellton is a meaningful one — 316 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (163), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Buellton?
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 Buellton's scale — its 9b band and its 319-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Buellton'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 Buellton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Buellton's own scale — its own ~319-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,012 acres it covers and 316 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Buellton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Buellton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Jan 24 and Dec 9 and the ~319-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 316 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Buellton, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Buellton's boundary and the 1,012 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~319-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Buellton's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Buellton's 1,012 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Santa Barbara County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Santa Barbara 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 Santa Barbara County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Buellton's 1,012 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Buellton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,012 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 Buellton-wide figureread your own land →