Fresno, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Fresno, 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 Fresno 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 Fresno — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fresno — the short answer
Fresno, California: USDA zone 9b, about 329 days between hard freezes, across 74K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 16
- Fresno County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Fresno County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~329
- Fresno County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 74K 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 Fresno County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Fresno's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fresno's 329-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fresno
Each reading below is measured for Fresno itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFresno runs about 329 days between hard freezes (read from Fresno County, the closest normal to Fresno) — 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
MeasuredFresno 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 Fresno is in
Fresno sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Fresno's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fresno County.
What Grows in Fresno
Every plant below cleared Fresno's own zone 9b and its 329-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fresno?
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 16 (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. 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 Fresno
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fresno. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LA JOLLA GROUP II MANAGEMENT, INC.Brownfields · 600 ft
- Fast N Esy #23Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- BJ'S FOOD & LIQUOR #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SEARS #6811Brownfields · 1200 ft
- DOLLAR TREE #01964Brownfields · 1300 ft
- SEARS, #1208Brownfields · 1400 ft
- SALLY BEAUTY SUPPLYBrownfields · 1400 ft
- FT. MILLER MIDDLE SCHOOLBrownfields · 1500 ft
- YOLANDA ACEVESBrownfields · 1500 ft
- RDS FINANCIALBrownfields · 1700 ft
- SERITAGE GROWTH PROPERTIESBrownfields · 1700 ft
- TEXACO SERVICE STATIONBrownfields · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fresno'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 Fresno.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fresno
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fresno
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fresno, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 2,914 sites within ~10 miles of Fresno. 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 Fresno
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 Fresno average
Your land is one point inside Fresno
Everything above resolves to Fresno as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 74K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Fresno 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 Fresno Average
Fresno Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Fresno
- ●One soil character for all of Fresno
- ●Frost dates read at Fresno's scale: Jan 16 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fresno's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fresno
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fresno, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fresno averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fresno — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fresno average
How we know this about Fresno
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 Fresno 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 Fresno
When does frost risk typically end in Fresno?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fresno typically lands around Jan 16, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Fresno?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fresno 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 329 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fresno?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fresno sees about 329 frost-free days — roughly Jan 16 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 6 to Nov 27, about 294 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fresno?
The federal record around Fresno runs heavier than most — 3,407 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (2,914), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles 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 Fresno?
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 Fresno's scale — its 9b band and its 329-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fresno'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 Fresno’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Fresno's own scale — the 74,182 acres it covers and 3,407 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fresno's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 3,407 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fresno, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fresno's boundary and the 74,182 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~329-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fresno's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Fresno has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Fresno County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fresno's 74,182 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fresno County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fresno 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 Fresno County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fresno's 74,182 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fresno you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 74,182 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Fresno-wide figureread your own land →