Coleville, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Coleville, 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 Coleville 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 Coleville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Coleville — the short answer
Coleville, California: USDA zone 7a, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 12K 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 Coleville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Coleville's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Coleville
Each reading below is measured for Coleville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredColeville runs about 165 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
MeasuredColeville 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 Coleville is in
Coleville sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Coleville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mono County.
What Grows in Coleville
Every plant below cleared Coleville's own zone 7a and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Coleville?
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 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Coleville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Coleville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Coleville AreaMining · 2.2 mi
- CassonMining · 2.9 mi
- WALKER TRANSFER STATION/LANDFILLBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- Al Mono MineMining · 4.3 mi
- Al MonoMining · 4.3 mi
- T & M AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 4.5 mi
- Walker Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- BRIDGEPORT COLONY DEVELOPMENT CORP DBA WALKER COUNTRY STOREBrownfields · 4.5 mi
- Nw Section 33 ProspectsMining · 4.8 mi
- Ne Section 33 ProspectsMining · 5.6 mi
- Eureka Mine and MillMining · 6.2 mi
- Sections 27 and 34 ProspectsMining · 6.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Coleville'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 Coleville.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Coleville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Coleville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Coleville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Coleville — Mining (18 sites) and Nitrate (50 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Coleville
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 Coleville average
Your land is one point inside Coleville
Everything above resolves to Coleville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 12K 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 Coleville Average
Coleville Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Coleville
- ●One soil character for all of Coleville
- ●Frost dates read at Coleville's scale: May 2 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Coleville's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Coleville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Coleville, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Coleville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Coleville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Coleville average
How we know this about Coleville
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 Coleville’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 Coleville
When does frost risk typically end in Coleville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Coleville typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Coleville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Coleville typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Coleville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Coleville sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 30, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Coleville?
The federal record around Coleville is a meaningful one — 73 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (50), the nearest Mining record about 2.2 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 Coleville?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Coleville's scale — its 7a band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Coleville'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 Coleville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Coleville's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 12,330 acres it covers and 73 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Coleville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Coleville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 14 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 73 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Coleville, the closest Mining record about 2.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Coleville's boundary and the 12,330 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Coleville's own centroid, the Central Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Coleville's 12,330 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mono County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mono 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 Mono County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Coleville's 12,330 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Coleville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,330 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 2.2 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 Coleville-wide figureread your own land →