Fulton, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fulton, 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 Fulton 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 Fulton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fulton — the short answer
Fulton, California: USDA zone 9a, about 323 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- 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
- Town 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 Fulton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fulton's 323-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fulton
Each reading below is measured for Fulton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFulton runs about 323 days between hard freezes (read from Sonoma County, the closest normal to Fulton) — 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
MeasuredFulton 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 Fulton is in
Fulton sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Fulton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sonoma County.
What Grows in Fulton
Every plant below cleared Fulton'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 Fulton?
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 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Fulton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fulton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WESTERN TREE REMOVAL SPECIALISTSBrownfields · 1200 ft
- FULTON PROCESSORS INCToxics Release Inventory · 1200 ft
- GRILL BROTHERS LP DBA AACTION RENTSBrownfields · 1600 ft
- BOB FENZELBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- PG&E FULTON SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- BOWLAND VINEYARD MANAGEMENT INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- BILL BAXMAN AND SONSBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- AHLBORN FENCE & STEEL INCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- THERMOCHEM INCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- SOILAND COMPANY, INC.Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- RCX INCBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- NORTH BAY PETROLEUM LLCBrownfields · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fulton'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 Fulton.
Total Sites
1,868
within ~10 miles of Fulton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fulton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fulton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fulton, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 1,628 sites within ~10 miles of Fulton. 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 Fulton
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 Fulton average
Your land is one point inside Fulton
Everything above resolves to Fulton 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 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 Fulton Average
Fulton Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Fulton
- ●One soil character for all of Fulton
- ●Frost dates read at Fulton's scale: Jan 23 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fulton's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fulton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fulton, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fulton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fulton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fulton average
How we know this about Fulton
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 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 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 Fulton
When does frost risk typically end in Fulton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fulton 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 Fulton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fulton 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 Fulton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fulton 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 Fulton?
The federal record around Fulton is a meaningful one — 1,868 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (1,628), 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 Fulton?
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 Fulton's scale — its 9a band and its 323-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fulton'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 Fulton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Fulton's own scale — the 1,247 acres it covers and 1,868 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fulton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,868 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fulton, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fulton's boundary and the 1,247 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 Fulton'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 — Fulton 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 Fulton's 1,247 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 Fulton's 1,247 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fulton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,247 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 Fulton-wide figureread your own land →
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