Clearlake Oaks, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Clearlake Oaks, 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 Clearlake Oaks 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 Clearlake Oaks — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clearlake Oaks — the short answer
Clearlake Oaks, California: USDA zone 8b, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Lake County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Clearlake Oaks's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clearlake Oaks's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Clearlake Oaks
Each reading below is measured for Clearlake Oaks itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsClearlake Oaks runs about 288 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Clearlake Oaks) — 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
MeasuredClearlake Oaks sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Clearlake Oaks is in
Clearlake Oaks sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Clearlake Oaks's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Clearlake Oaks
Every plant below cleared Clearlake Oaks's own zone 8b and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clearlake Oaks?
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 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (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 Clearlake Oaks
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clearlake Oaks. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FOOD-GAS-GO CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BSG & CO INC DBA FOOD GAS GOBrownfields · 2100 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #15401Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- SULPHUR FIREBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- PAWNEE FIREBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- CAL TRANS CLEARLAKE OAKS MSBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- CLEARLAKE LAVA INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- ORLINDA HAMELBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- SHANNON RANCHES INCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- H&S Energy Products,#3003Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Sulphur Bank MineMining · 1.2 mi
- SULPHUR BANK MERCURY MINESuperfund · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clearlake Oaks'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 Clearlake Oaks.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clearlake Oaks
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clearlake Oaks
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Clearlake Oaks, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Clearlake Oaks — PFAS (4 sites) and Mining (23 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
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 irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Clearlake Oaks
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 Clearlake Oaks average
Your land is one point inside Clearlake Oaks
Everything above resolves to Clearlake Oaks as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake 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 Clearlake Oaks Average
Clearlake Oaks Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Clearlake Oaks
- ●One soil character for all of Clearlake Oaks
- ●Frost dates read at Clearlake Oaks's scale: Feb 26 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clearlake Oaks's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clearlake Oaks
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clearlake Oaks, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clearlake Oaks averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clearlake Oaks — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clearlake Oaks average
How we know this about Clearlake Oaks
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 Lake 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 Clearlake Oaks
When does frost risk typically end in Clearlake Oaks?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clearlake Oaks typically lands around Feb 26, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Clearlake Oaks?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clearlake Oaks 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 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Clearlake Oaks?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clearlake Oaks sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 27, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clearlake Oaks?
The federal record around Clearlake Oaks runs heavier than most — 166 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (119), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Clearlake Oaks?
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 Clearlake Oaks's scale — its 8b band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clearlake Oaks'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 Clearlake Oaks’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Clearlake Oaks's own scale — the 1,266 acres it covers and 166 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clearlake Oaks's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 166 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clearlake Oaks, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clearlake Oaks's boundary and the 1,266 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Clearlake Oaks's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Clearlake Oaks has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Clearlake Oaks's 1,266 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake 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 Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clearlake Oaks's 1,266 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clearlake Oaks you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,266 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Clearlake Oaks-wide figureread your own land →
More in California
Wider growing context
What grows across CaliforniaClearlake Oaks sits outside our named growing regions, so California as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides