Cottonwood, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cottonwood, 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 Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cottonwood — the short answer
Cottonwood, California: USDA zone 9b, about 319 days between hard freezes, across 252 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 23
- Kern County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Kern County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~319
- Kern County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 252 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 Kern County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Cottonwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cottonwood's 319-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cottonwood
Each reading below is measured for Cottonwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCottonwood runs about 319 days between hard freezes (read from Kern County, the closest normal to Cottonwood) — 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
MeasuredCottonwood 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 Cottonwood is in
Cottonwood sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Cottonwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kern County.
What Grows in Cottonwood
Every plant below cleared Cottonwood's own zone 9b and its 319-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cottonwood?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 8 — 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 Cottonwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cottonwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BAKERSFIELD TIRE CENTERBrownfields · 150 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #17772Brownfields · 300 ft
- GGS INCBrownfields · 400 ft
- BAKERSFIELD CITY SCHOOLS MOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- BAKERSFIELD CITY SCHOOL DISTRICTBrownfields · 1800 ft
- CALIFORNIA WATER SVC CO BK STA 135Brownfields · 2500 ft
- KERN WASTE OILBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE COMPANY -- BK 132Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- Brundage Petroleum Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- AQSEPTENCE GROUP INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- BJ SVCS CO USABrownfields · 0.6 mi
- HWY 58 ARCOBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cottonwood'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 Cottonwood.
Total Sites
3,245
within ~10 miles of Cottonwood
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
12 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cottonwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cottonwood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cottonwood, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 2,694 sites within ~10 miles of Cottonwood. 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 Cottonwood
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 Cottonwood average
Your land is one point inside Cottonwood
Everything above resolves to Cottonwood as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 252 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Kern 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 Cottonwood Average
Cottonwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Cottonwood
- ●One soil character for all of Cottonwood
- ●Frost dates read at Cottonwood's scale: Jan 23 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cottonwood's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cottonwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cottonwood, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cottonwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cottonwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cottonwood average
How we know this about Cottonwood
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 Kern 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 Cottonwood
When does frost risk typically end in Cottonwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cottonwood typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 319 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cottonwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cottonwood sees about 319 frost-free days — roughly Jan 23 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 13 to Nov 24, about 284 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cottonwood?
The federal record around Cottonwood is a meaningful one — 3,245 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (2,694), 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 Cottonwood?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cottonwood's scale — its 9b band and its 319-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cottonwood'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 Cottonwood’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cottonwood's own scale — the 252 acres it covers and 3,245 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cottonwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 3,245 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cottonwood, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cottonwood's boundary and the 252 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~319-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cottonwood's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cottonwood has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Kern County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cottonwood's 252 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kern County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kern 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 Kern County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cottonwood's 252 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cottonwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 252 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 Cottonwood-wide figureread your own land →