Fortuna, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Fortuna, 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 Fortuna 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 Fortuna — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fortuna — the short answer
Fortuna, California: USDA zone 9b, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 1
- Humboldt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Humboldt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~278
- Humboldt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Humboldt County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Fortuna's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fortuna's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fortuna
Each reading below is measured for Fortuna itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFortuna runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Humboldt County, the closest normal to Fortuna) — 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
MeasuredFortuna 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 Fortuna is in
Fortuna sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Fortuna's own centroid rather than borrowed from Humboldt County.
What Grows in Fortuna
Every plant below cleared Fortuna's own zone 9b and its 278-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fortuna?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — 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 Fortuna
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fortuna. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MURRAY MOTORSBrownfields · 1200 ft
- A-1 RADIATOR BATTERY MUFFLERBrownfields · 1400 ft
- FORTUNA WHEEL AND BRAKE SERVICEBrownfields · 1400 ft
- FORTUNA TEXACOBrownfields · 1400 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #15232Brownfields · 1500 ft
- NEWBURG RETIREMENT CENTERBrownfields · 1500 ft
- Humboldt Petroleum Inc. (#06)Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SAFEWAY STORE #975Brownfields · 1500 ft
- AUTOZONE #4142Brownfields · 1500 ft
- DOLLAR TREE #01878Brownfields · 1600 ft
- RITE AID #6041Brownfields · 1600 ft
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #3491Brownfields · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fortuna'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 Fortuna.
Total Sites
194
within ~10 miles of Fortuna
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fortuna
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fortuna
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fortuna, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fortuna — CAFO (11 sites) and Brownfields (139 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Fortuna
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 Fortuna average
Your land is one point inside Fortuna
Everything above resolves to Fortuna as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Humboldt 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 Fortuna Average
Fortuna Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Fortuna
- ●One soil character for all of Fortuna
- ●Frost dates read at Fortuna's scale: Mar 1 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fortuna's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fortuna
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fortuna, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fortuna averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fortuna — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fortuna average
How we know this about Fortuna
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 Humboldt 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 Fortuna
When does frost risk typically end in Fortuna?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fortuna typically lands around Mar 1, 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 Mar 22.
When is the first frost in Fortuna?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fortuna typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 278 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fortuna?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fortuna sees about 278 frost-free days — roughly Mar 1 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 22 to Nov 20, about 243 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fortuna?
The federal record around Fortuna is a meaningful one — 194 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (139), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Fortuna?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fortuna's scale — its 9b band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fortuna'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 Fortuna’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Fortuna's own scale — the 3,361 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fortuna's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fortuna, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fortuna's boundary and the 3,361 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fortuna's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Fortuna has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Humboldt County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fortuna's 3,361 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Humboldt County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Humboldt 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 Humboldt County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fortuna's 3,361 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fortuna you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,361 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Fortuna-wide figureread your own land →
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