Cantua Creek, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cantua Creek, 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 Cantua Creek 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 Cantua Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cantua Creek — the short answer
Cantua Creek, California: USDA zone 9b, about 329 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 16
- Fresno County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Fresno County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~329
- Fresno County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Fresno County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Cantua Creek's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cantua Creek's 329-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cantua Creek
Each reading below is measured for Cantua Creek itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCantua Creek runs about 329 days between hard freezes (read from Fresno County, the closest normal to Cantua Creek) — 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
MeasuredCantua Creek 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 Cantua Creek is in
Cantua Creek sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Cantua Creek's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fresno County.
What Grows in Cantua Creek
Every plant below cleared Cantua Creek's own zone 9b and its 329-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cantua Creek?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Cantua Creek
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cantua Creek. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- R & S FARMSBrownfields · 600 ft
- WEST COAST GRAPE FARMING INCBrownfields · 800 ft
- 016S015E35D001MNitrate · 1000 ft
- 016S015E35E002MNitrate · 2100 ft
- WEIS & SON FARMINGBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- 016S015E35Q002MNitrate · 1.1 mi
- 016S015E27E001MNitrate · 1.1 mi
- 016S015E23E003MNitrate · 1.8 mi
- 017S015E01N001MNitrate · 2.1 mi
- 016S016E30M001MNitrate · 2.1 mi
- 017S015E01P001MNitrate · 2.2 mi
- 016S015E21N001MNitrate · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cantua Creek'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 Cantua Creek.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cantua Creek
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cantua Creek, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 232 sites within ~10 miles of Cantua Creek. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Cantua Creek
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 Cantua Creek average
Your land is one point inside Cantua Creek
Everything above resolves to Cantua Creek as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Fresno 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 Cantua Creek Average
Cantua Creek Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Cantua Creek
- ●One soil character for all of Cantua Creek
- ●Frost dates read at Cantua Creek's scale: Jan 16 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cantua Creek's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cantua Creek
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cantua Creek, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cantua Creek averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cantua Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cantua Creek average
How we know this about Cantua Creek
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 Fresno 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 Cantua Creek
When does frost risk typically end in Cantua Creek?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cantua Creek typically lands around Jan 16, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Cantua Creek?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cantua Creek typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 329 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cantua Creek?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cantua Creek sees about 329 frost-free days — roughly Jan 16 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 6 to Nov 27, about 294 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cantua Creek?
The federal record around Cantua Creek is a meaningful one — 264 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (232), 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 Cantua Creek?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cantua Creek's scale — its 9b band and its 329-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cantua Creek'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 Cantua Creek’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cantua Creek's own scale — the 2,430 acres it covers and 264 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cantua Creek's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 264 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cantua Creek, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cantua Creek's boundary and the 2,430 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~329-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cantua Creek's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cantua Creek has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Fresno County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cantua Creek's 2,430 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fresno County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fresno 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 Fresno County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cantua Creek's 2,430 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cantua Creek you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,430 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 Cantua Creek-wide figureread your own land →