Corte Madera, 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 okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Corte Madera, 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 Corte Madera 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 Corte Madera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Corte Madera — the short answer
Corte Madera, California: USDA zone 10a, about 336 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 9
- Marin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Marin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~336
- Marin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Marin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Corte Madera's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Corte Madera's 336-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Corte Madera
Each reading below is measured for Corte Madera itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCorte Madera runs about 336 days between hard freezes (read from Marin County, the closest normal to Corte Madera) — 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
MeasuredCorte Madera 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 Corte Madera is in
Corte Madera sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Corte Madera's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marin County.
What Grows in Corte Madera
Every plant below cleared Corte Madera's own zone 10a and its 336-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Corte Madera?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 9 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
Documented around Corte Madera
Spotted lanternfly documented 20 miles from Corte Madera, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Corte Madera
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Corte Madera. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AVEDA #742Brownfields · 1600 ft
- THE VILLAGE AT CORTE MADERABrownfields · 1600 ft
- APPLE, INC R071Brownfields · 2000 ft
- BANANA REPUBLIC 8128Brownfields · 2000 ft
- NORDSTROM STORE #423Brownfields · 2100 ft
- MARIN HONDA BODY SHOPBrownfields · 2300 ft
- MINI OF MARINBrownfields · 2400 ft
- CHEVRON STATION# 94737/1570Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CHEVRON STATION#94737Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROLBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- THE CONTAINER STORE #031Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- REI, GENERAL ACCOUNTING DEPTBrownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Corte Madera'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 Corte Madera.
Total Sites
2,337
within ~10 miles of Corte Madera
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
13 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Corte Madera
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Corte Madera
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Corte Madera, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 2,147 sites within ~10 miles of Corte Madera. 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 Corte Madera
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 Corte Madera average
Your land is one point inside Corte Madera
Everything above resolves to Corte Madera as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Marin 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 Corte Madera Average
Corte Madera Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Corte Madera
- ●One soil character for all of Corte Madera
- ●Frost dates read at Corte Madera's scale: Jan 9 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Corte Madera's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Corte Madera
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Corte Madera, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Corte Madera averages can't show:
We read public map data around Corte Madera — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Corte Madera average
How we know this about Corte Madera
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 Marin 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 Corte Madera
When does frost risk typically end in Corte Madera?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Corte Madera typically lands around Jan 9, 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 Jan 30.
When is the first frost in Corte Madera?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Corte Madera 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 336 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Corte Madera?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Corte Madera sees about 336 frost-free days — roughly Jan 9 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jan 30 to Nov 27, about 301 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Corte Madera?
The federal record around Corte Madera is a meaningful one — 2,337 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (2,147), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Corte Madera?
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 Corte Madera's scale — its 10a band and its 336-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Corte Madera'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 Corte Madera’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Corte Madera's own scale — the 2,022 acres it covers and 2,337 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Corte Madera's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,337 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Corte Madera, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Corte Madera's boundary and the 2,022 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 10a and a ~336-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Corte Madera's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Corte Maderalydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Corte Madera has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Marin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Corte Madera's 2,022 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marin 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 Marin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Corte Madera's 2,022 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Corte Madera you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,022 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 Corte Madera-wide figureread your own land →
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