Hillcrest, 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.
Well-matched crops include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hillcrest, 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 Hillcrest 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 Hillcrest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hillcrest — the short answer
Hillcrest, California: USDA zone 9b, about 319 days between hard freezes, across 882 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
- 882 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 Hillcrest's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hillcrest's 319-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hillcrest
Each reading below is measured for Hillcrest itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHillcrest runs about 319 days between hard freezes (read from Kern County, the closest normal to Hillcrest) — 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
MeasuredHillcrest 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 Hillcrest is in
Hillcrest sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Hillcrest's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kern County.
What Grows in Hillcrest
Every plant below cleared Hillcrest'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 Hillcrest?
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 8 — 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 Hillcrest
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hillcrest. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOLLAR GENERAL #13226Brownfields · 1400 ft
- CRUZ AUTO DOC AND REPAIRBrownfields · 1700 ft
- A & T AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 1900 ft
- AJS TUXEDOBrownfields · 2300 ft
- FOROOZANFAR TRANSPORTATION LLCBrownfields · 2300 ft
- LARA TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 2500 ft
- CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE CO., BK 100-T1Brownfields · 2600 ft
- VALLARTA FOOD ENTERPRISES INC DBA VALLARTA SUPERMARKET #41Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- TMP GAS & FOOD MART #1Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CENTENNIAL CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- BAKERSFIELD PACIFIC OILBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- JACO HILL COMPANY #560 FASTRIP #605 (EXXON)Brownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hillcrest'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 Hillcrest.
Total Sites
3,090
within ~10 miles of Hillcrest
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
12 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hillcrest
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hillcrest
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hillcrest, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 2,582 sites within ~10 miles of Hillcrest. 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 Hillcrest
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 Hillcrest average
Your land is one point inside Hillcrest
Everything above resolves to Hillcrest as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 882 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 Hillcrest Average
Hillcrest Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Hillcrest
- ●One soil character for all of Hillcrest
- ●Frost dates read at Hillcrest's scale: Jan 23 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hillcrest's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hillcrest
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hillcrest, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hillcrest averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hillcrest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hillcrest average
How we know this about Hillcrest
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 Hillcrest
When does frost risk typically end in Hillcrest?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hillcrest 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 Hillcrest?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hillcrest 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 Hillcrest?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hillcrest 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 Hillcrest?
The federal record around Hillcrest is a meaningful one — 3,090 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (2,582), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Hillcrest?
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 Hillcrest's scale — its 9b band and its 319-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hillcrest'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 Hillcrest’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Hillcrest's own scale — the 882 acres it covers and 3,090 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hillcrest's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 3,090 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hillcrest, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hillcrest's boundary and the 882 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 Hillcrest's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Hillcrest 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 Hillcrest's 882 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 Hillcrest's 882 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hillcrest you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 882 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Hillcrest-wide figureread your own land →