What Grows in La Verne, California

USDA Zones 10a · 5K acres

La Verne, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.

Growers here do well with artichoke, meyer lemon, california poppy, and cabbage — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.

Score your parcel · free

Even in La Verne, 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 La Verne 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 La Verne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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La Verne — the short answer

La Verne, California: USDA zone 10a, no 28°F killing freeze on record — the season is year-round, across 5K acres of city.

USDA zone
10a
USDA PHZM 2023
Killing freeze
None on record
NOAA RCC ACIS 1991–2020, this town’s own record
City area
5K acres
US Census TIGER/Line 2025

Every figure names the dataset it came from. The year-round finding is measured — a 30-year record with no 28°F killing freeze in it — never inferred from missing dates.

Hardiness Zone Range

10a10a
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 10a is La Verne's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against La Verne's no killing freeze on record, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in La Verne

Each reading below is measured for La Verne itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Winter hardiness

Measured

La Verne sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.

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 La Verne is in

La Verne sits in the Southern California/Northern Baja Coast — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at La Verne's own centroid rather than borrowed from Los Angeles County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in La Verne

Every plant below cleared La Verne's own zone 10a. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.

artichoke, photograph
Growing artichoke in CaliforniaZones 7–11La Verne's 10a — 3 zones of cold margin.
Meyer lemon, photograph
California meyer lemon guideZones 9–11La Verne's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
California poppy, photograph
California poppy in CaliforniaZones 6–10La Verne's 10a — 4 zones of cold margin.
cabbage, photograph
Cabbage: California growing notesZones 2–11La Verne's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
avocado, photograph
Growing avocado in CaliforniaZones 9–11La Verne's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
rosemary, photograph
California rosemary guideZones 8–10La Verne's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens in CaliforniaZones 2–11La Verne's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
banana, photograph
Banana: California growing notesZones 9–11La Verne's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
ashwagandha, photograph
Growing ashwagandha in CaliforniaZones 8–12La Verne's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
kale, photograph
California kale guideZones 2–11La Verne's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
citrus, photograph
Citrus in CaliforniaZones 9–11La Verne's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
potato, photograph
Potato: California growing notesZones 2–11La Verne's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Growing garlic in CaliforniaZones 2–10La Verne's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
cassava, photograph
California cassava guideZones 8–12La Verne's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
eggplant, photograph
Eggplant in CaliforniaZones 2–12La Verne's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: California growing notesZones 3–10La Verne's 10a — 7 zones of cold margin.
salvia, photograph
Growing salvia in CaliforniaZones 2–11La Verne's 10a — 8 zones of cold margin.
Apache plume, photograph
California apache plume guideZones 5–11La Verne's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
bougainvillea, photograph
Bougainvillea in CaliforniaZones 9–11La Verne's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
lantana, photograph
Lantana: California growing notesZones 10–11La Verne's 10a is its exact cold limit.
scabiosa, photograph
Growing scabiosa in CaliforniaZones 4–11La Verne's 10a — 6 zones of cold margin.
holly, photograph
California holly guideZones 5–11La Verne's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
jasmine, photograph
Jasmine in CaliforniaZones 9–11La Verne's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
mountain laurel, photograph
Mountain laurel: California growing notesZones 5–11La Verne's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
moringa, photograph
Growing moringa in CaliforniaZones 9–12La Verne's 10a — 1 zone of cold margin.
Vuda blue grass, photograph
California vuda blue grass guideZones 8–13La Verne's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
ajuga, photograph
Ajuga in CaliforniaZones 5–11La Verne's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.
palo verde, photograph
Palo verde: California growing notesZones 8–11La Verne's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
cogon grass, photograph
Growing cogon grass in CaliforniaZones 8–13La Verne's 10a — 2 zones of cold margin.
liriope, photograph
California liriope guideZones 5–11La Verne's 10a — 5 zones of cold margin.

What's on the federal record near La Verne

Closest first, within ~10 miles of La Verne. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. ALEX ORTIZBrownfields · 450 ft
  2. JOSELYN & PATRICK CAMPBELLBrownfields · 750 ft
  3. MICHAEL ROLLERBrownfields · 900 ft
  4. LUIS DIZCARRZABrownfields · 1300 ft
  5. LA VERNE HEIGHTS ELEMENTARYBrownfields · 1300 ft
  6. BOWER, DALE & CATHYBrownfields · 1500 ft
  7. HLUSHKO, VLADIMARBrownfields · 1700 ft
  8. MONTE VISTA APARTMENTSBrownfields · 1800 ft
  9. EMERALD CLEANERSBrownfields · 1900 ft
  10. DOLLAR TREE #05257Brownfields · 1900 ft
  11. VONS FUEL #2832Brownfields · 1900 ft
  12. VONS 2832Brownfields · 1900 ft

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from La Verne'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 La Verne.

Total Sites

5,919

within ~10 miles of La Verne

Risk Level

High

Highest-severity

34 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of La Verne

High14Moderate552Low5,353

Highest-Severity Sites

Azusa Light and Water
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Covina-City, Water Dept.
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Gswc-San Dimas
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Kelsey
Mining Sites · Past Producer
Kelsey, Et Al.
Mining Sites · Past Producer

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around La Verne, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 5,347 sites within ~10 miles of La Verne. 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.

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in La Verne

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 La Verne average

Your land is one point inside La Verne

Everything above resolves to La Verne as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K acres. 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 La Verne Average

La Verne Average

  • USDA Zones 10a, averaged across La Verne
  • One soil character for all of La Verne
  • State-average frost dates

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not La Verne's 10a
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in La Verne

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in La Verne, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that La Verne averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free daysYour sun & shade

We read public map data around La Verne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the La Verne average

How we know this about La Verne

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, with the labelled statewide window where none resolves; 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 La Verne

Is it too late to plant in La Verne?

No — La Verne has no 28°F killing freeze in the 30-year station record, so the growing season is year-round and there is no last-frost date to wait for. Planting is paced by rainfall, heat and daylength instead of by frost: start heat-lovers any month, and time cool-season crops (lettuce, brassicas, peas) for the cooler, wetter half of the year or for higher ground. Succession sowing every few weeks works all year, so the limit is what you can keep watered and harvested, not the calendar.

When does frost risk typically end in La Verne?

It doesn't — La Verne records no 28°F killing freeze at all across the 1991–2020 station record, so there is no spring frost date to plant after. Cold still matters with elevation: the higher you garden, the cooler the nights, and a few tropical crops sulk below about 60°F even where they never freeze.

How long is the growing season in La Verne?

Year-round — the 1991–2020 station record for La Verne contains no 28°F killing freeze, so there is no season to measure between freezes. What paces planting instead is heat, rainfall and daylength: the hottest, wettest stretch is the hard part for cool-season crops, not winter. Elevation is the one real exception — the higher you garden, the colder the nights get.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in La Verne?

The federal record around La Verne runs heavier than most — 5,919 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (5,347), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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.

Everything above is measured at La Verne's scale — its 10a band and its no killing freeze on record. Your yard writes its own version of La Verne'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 La Verne’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at La Verne's own scale — the 5,390 acres it covers and 5,919 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • La Verne's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
  • No 28°F killing freeze in the 30-year station record covering La Verne — a year-round growing seasonNOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
  • 5,919 documented contamination sites on the federal record near La Verne, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • La Verne's boundary and the 5,390 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear La Verne's hardiness zoneGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at La Verne's own centroid, the Southern California/Northern Baja CoastUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so La Verne's 5,390 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Los Angeles County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among La Verne's 5,390 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of La Verne you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,390 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 La Verne-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address