Cotati, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — 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 artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cotati, 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 Cotati 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 Cotati — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cotati — the short answer
Cotati, California: USDA zone 9a, about 323 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 23
- Sonoma County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Sonoma County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~323
- Sonoma County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Sonoma County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Cotati's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cotati's 323-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cotati
Each reading below is measured for Cotati itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCotati runs about 323 days between hard freezes (read from Sonoma County, the closest normal to Cotati) — 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
MeasuredCotati sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Cotati is in
Cotati sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Cotati's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sonoma County.
What Grows in Cotati
Every plant below cleared Cotati's own zone 9a and its 323-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cotati?
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 23 (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. 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 Cotati
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cotati. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOWNTOWN COTATI AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 500 ft
- TESORO MARKETING AND REFININGBrownfields · 500 ft
- JOEL'S HARMONY GARAGEBrownfields · 500 ft
- TESORO (SPEEDWAY XP) #68122Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- WALGREENS #3084Brownfields · 800 ft
- LA PLAZA VETERINARY CLINICBrownfields · 900 ft
- SHELL SERVICE STATIONBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Cotati ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- TIP TOP CLEANERSBrownfields · 1800 ft
- United #5426Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- TOSCO NORTHWEST CO 02810Brownfields · 1800 ft
- UNITED #5426Brownfields · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cotati'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 Cotati.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cotati
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cotati
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cotati, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 1,804 sites within ~10 miles of Cotati. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Cotati
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 Cotati average
Your land is one point inside Cotati
Everything above resolves to Cotati as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Sonoma 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 Cotati Average
Cotati Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Cotati
- ●One soil character for all of Cotati
- ●Frost dates read at Cotati's scale: Jan 23 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cotati's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cotati
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cotati, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cotati averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cotati — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cotati average
How we know this about Cotati
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 Sonoma 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 Cotati
When does frost risk typically end in Cotati?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cotati typically lands around Jan 23, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Cotati?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cotati 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 323 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cotati?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cotati sees about 323 frost-free days — roughly Jan 23 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 13 to Nov 28, about 288 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cotati?
The federal record around Cotati is a meaningful one — 2,042 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (1,804), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Cotati?
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 Cotati's scale — its 9a band and its 323-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cotati'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 Cotati’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cotati's own scale — the 1,199 acres it covers and 2,042 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cotati's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,042 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cotati, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cotati's boundary and the 1,199 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~323-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cotati'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 — Cotati has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Sonoma County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cotati's 1,199 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sonoma County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sonoma 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 Sonoma County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cotati's 1,199 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cotati you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,199 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 Cotati-wide figureread your own land →
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