Burney, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Burney, 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 Burney 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 Burney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Burney — the short answer
Burney, California: USDA zone 7a, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~153
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Burney's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Burney's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Burney
Each reading below is measured for Burney itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBurney runs about 153 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
MeasuredBurney 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 Burney is in
Burney sits in the Cascades — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Burney's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shasta County.
What Grows in Burney
Every plant below cleared Burney's own zone 7a and its 153-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Burney?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Burney
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Burney. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHASTA COUNTY DEPT OF RESOURCE MGMNTBrownfields · 2400 ft
- CITIZENS UTILITIES COBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- BURNEY EXPRESS SHELLBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Burney Express ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FALL RIVER J.U. SCHOOL DISTRICTBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Bernard'sUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- M & S FABRICARE INC DBA BURNEY FABRICAREBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- BIOWASTEBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- 20480 MARQUETTE ST, BURNEYBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- ANNA GIRONBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- SAFEWAY STORE NO 4187Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL #15943Brownfields · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Burney'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 Burney.
Total Sites
68
within ~10 miles of Burney
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Burney
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Burney
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Burney, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 52 sites within ~10 miles of Burney. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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.
Check your specific parcel in Burney
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 Burney average
Your land is one point inside Burney
Everything above resolves to Burney as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Burney Average
Burney Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Burney
- ●One soil character for all of Burney
- ●Frost dates read at Burney's scale: May 6 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Burney's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Burney
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Burney, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Burney averages can't show:
We read public map data around Burney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Burney average
How we know this about Burney
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 Burney’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 Burney
When does frost risk typically end in Burney?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Burney typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Burney?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Burney typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Burney?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Burney sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 22, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Burney?
The federal record around Burney shows 68 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (52), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Burney?
From about Sep 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Burney's scale — its 7a band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Burney'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 Burney’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Burney's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,439 acres it covers and 68 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Burney's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Burney's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 6 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 68 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Burney, the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Burney's boundary and the 3,439 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~153-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Burney's own centroid, the CascadesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Burney's 3,439 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shasta County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shasta 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 Shasta County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Burney's 3,439 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Burney you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,439 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Burney-wide figureread your own land →
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