Clearlake Riviera, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Clearlake Riviera, 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 Riviera 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 Riviera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clearlake Riviera — the short answer
Clearlake Riviera, California: USDA zone 9b, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- 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
- 3K 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 9b is Clearlake Riviera's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clearlake Riviera'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 Riviera
Each reading below is measured for Clearlake Riviera itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsClearlake Riviera runs about 288 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Clearlake Riviera) — 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 Riviera 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 Clearlake Riviera is in
Clearlake Riviera sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Clearlake Riviera's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Clearlake Riviera
Every plant below cleared Clearlake Riviera's own zone 9b and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clearlake Riviera?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Clearlake Riviera
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clearlake Riviera. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RIVIERA AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1500 ft
- BRAITOS RIVERA FOODS DBA RIVERA FOODSBrownfields · 1900 ft
- Snaker PropertyMining · 0.8 mi
- HOLMES TRANSFER SERVICEBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- KIT'S CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Konocti Mine BellMining · 1.9 mi
- LucittaMining · 2.0 mi
- S BAR S QUARRYBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- RED HILLS VINEYARD COBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- BaxterMining · 2.5 mi
- BAYSHORE MARINE SERVICEBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- AT&T MOBILITYBrownfields · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clearlake Riviera'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 Riviera.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clearlake Riviera
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clearlake Riviera
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Clearlake Riviera, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Clearlake Riviera — Mining (42 sites) and PFAS (4 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Clearlake Riviera
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 Riviera average
Your land is one point inside Clearlake Riviera
Everything above resolves to Clearlake Riviera as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K 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 Riviera Average
Clearlake Riviera Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Clearlake Riviera
- ●One soil character for all of Clearlake Riviera
- ●Frost dates read at Clearlake Riviera's scale: Feb 26 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clearlake Riviera's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clearlake Riviera
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clearlake Riviera, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clearlake Riviera averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clearlake Riviera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clearlake Riviera average
How we know this about Clearlake Riviera
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 Riviera
When does frost risk typically end in Clearlake Riviera?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clearlake Riviera 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 Riviera?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clearlake Riviera 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 Riviera?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clearlake Riviera 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 Riviera?
The federal record around Clearlake Riviera runs heavier than most — 243 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (166), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Riviera?
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 Riviera's scale — its 9b band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clearlake Riviera'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 Riviera’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Clearlake Riviera's own scale — the 3,384 acres it covers and 243 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clearlake Riviera's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 243 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clearlake Riviera, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clearlake Riviera's boundary and the 3,384 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Clearlake Riviera'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 Riviera 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 Riviera's 3,384 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 Riviera's 3,384 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clearlake Riviera you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,384 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Riviera-wide figureread your own land →
More in California
Wider growing context
What grows across CaliforniaClearlake Riviera sits outside our named growing regions, so California as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides