Casa Loma, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Casa Loma, 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 Casa Loma 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 Casa Loma — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Casa Loma — the short answer
Casa Loma, California: USDA zone 9b, about 319 days between hard freezes, across 249 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 23
- Kern County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Kern County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~319
- Kern County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 249 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 Kern County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Casa Loma's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Casa Loma's 319-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Casa Loma
Each reading below is measured for Casa Loma itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCasa Loma runs about 319 days between hard freezes (read from Kern County, the closest normal to Casa Loma) — 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
MeasuredCasa Loma 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 Casa Loma is in
Casa Loma sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Casa Loma's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kern County.
What Grows in Casa Loma
Every plant below cleared Casa Loma'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 Casa Loma?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — 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 Casa Loma
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Casa Loma. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CARLOS CARDENASBrownfields · 500 ft
- 030S028E05M001MNitrate · 600 ft
- A 1 BATTERY COBrownfields · 1200 ft
- KC AUTO SALES & DISMANTLINGBrownfields · 1300 ft
- TCJ LOGISTICSBrownfields · 1400 ft
- CALIFORNIA WATER SVC CO BK STA 135Brownfields · 1500 ft
- 030S028E05E001MNitrate · 1600 ft
- CALIFORNIA WATER SVC CO BK 138Brownfields · 1700 ft
- CASA LOMA SCHOOLBrownfields · 1700 ft
- FOMBONA'S CV AXLEBrownfields · 1700 ft
- ERICK AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1700 ft
- RIOS MOBILE SERVICEBrownfields · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Casa Loma'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 Casa Loma.
Total Sites
3,266
within ~10 miles of Casa Loma
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
12 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Casa Loma
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Casa Loma
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Casa Loma, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 2,715 sites within ~10 miles of Casa Loma. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Casa Loma
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 Casa Loma average
Your land is one point inside Casa Loma
Everything above resolves to Casa Loma as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 249 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Kern 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 Casa Loma Average
Casa Loma Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Casa Loma
- ●One soil character for all of Casa Loma
- ●Frost dates read at Casa Loma's scale: Jan 23 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Casa Loma's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Casa Loma
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Casa Loma, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Casa Loma averages can't show:
We read public map data around Casa Loma — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Casa Loma average
How we know this about Casa Loma
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 Kern 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 Casa Loma
When does frost risk typically end in Casa Loma?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Casa Loma typically lands around Jan 23, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Casa Loma?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Casa Loma typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 319 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Casa Loma?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Casa Loma sees about 319 frost-free days — roughly Jan 23 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 13 to Nov 24, about 284 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Casa Loma?
The federal record around Casa Loma is a meaningful one — 3,266 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (2,715), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Casa Loma?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Casa Loma's scale — its 9b band and its 319-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Casa Loma'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 Casa Loma’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Casa Loma's own scale — the 249 acres it covers and 3,266 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Casa Loma's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 3,266 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Casa Loma, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Casa Loma's boundary and the 249 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 Casa Loma's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Casa Loma has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Kern County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Casa Loma's 249 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kern County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kern 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 Kern County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Casa Loma's 249 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Casa Loma you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 249 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Casa Loma-wide figureread your own land →