Colton, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor avocado, meyer lemon, tomato, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Colton, 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 Colton 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 Colton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Colton — the short answer
Colton, California: USDA zone 10a, about 328 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 18
- San Bernardino County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- San Bernardino County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~328
- San Bernardino County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 10K 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 San Bernardino County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Colton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Colton's 328-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Colton
Each reading below is measured for Colton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsColton runs about 328 days between hard freezes (read from San Bernardino County, the closest normal to Colton) — 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
MeasuredColton sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
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 Colton is in
Colton sits in the Southern California/Northern Baja Coast — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Colton's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: San Bernardino County is mostly Mojave Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Colton
Plants matched to Colton's USDA zones 10a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Colton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Colton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Colton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CLARIANT CORPORATIONBrownfields · 200 ft
- LARGO CONCRETEBrownfields · 300 ft
- ANGELICABrownfields · 450 ft
- I AND R TRAILER LIFT GATE CORPBrownfields · 500 ft
- CALTRANS COLTON MAINT STATIONBrownfields · 800 ft
- ARROWHEAD MTN SPRING WATERBrownfields · 950 ft
- DESERET INDUSTRIESBrownfields · 1500 ft
- ASHLAND CHEMICAL COToxics Release Inventory · 1700 ft
- CUTTING EDGE SUPPLY COBrownfields · 1900 ft
- BLACK DIAMOND MACHINE AND REPAIRBrownfields · 1900 ft
- GRIFFIN WHEEL DUMPSuperfund · 1900 ft
- PERFORMANCE PIPEBrownfields · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Colton'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 Colton.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Colton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Colton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Colton, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 4,911 sites within ~10 miles of Colton. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Colton
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 Colton average
Your land is one point inside Colton
Everything above resolves to Colton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 10K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from San Bernardino County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Colton Average
Colton Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Colton
- ●One soil character for all of Colton
- ●Frost dates read at Colton's scale: Jan 18 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Colton's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Colton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Colton, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Colton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Colton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Colton average
How we know this about Colton
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at San Bernardino 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Colton
When does frost risk typically end in Colton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Colton typically lands around Jan 18, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Colton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Colton typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 328 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Colton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Colton sees about 328 frost-free days — roughly Jan 18 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 8 to Nov 28, about 293 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Colton?
The federal record around Colton runs heavier than most — 6,338 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (4,911), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Colton?
From about Nov 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Colton's scale — its 10a band and its 328-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Colton'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 Colton’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Colton's own scale — the 10,002 acres it covers and 6,338 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Colton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 6,338 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Colton, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Colton's boundary and the 10,002 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Colton sits in the Southern California/Northern Baja Coast — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Colton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom San Bernardino County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Colton's 10,002 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Bernardino County
- The candidate plant list — California's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom California
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Bernardino 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 San Bernardino County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Colton's 10,002 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Colton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,002 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 Colton-wide figureread your own land →
More in California
Growing region
Nearby growing guides