Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lagunitas-Forest Knolls — the short answer
Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, California: USDA zone 9b, about 336 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 9
- Marin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Marin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~336
- Marin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town 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 Marin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's 336-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
Each reading below is measured for Lagunitas-Forest Knolls itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLagunitas-Forest Knolls runs about 336 days between hard freezes (read from Marin County, the closest normal to Lagunitas-Forest Knolls) — 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
MeasuredLagunitas-Forest Knolls 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is in
Lagunitas-Forest Knolls sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Marin County is mostly Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
Every plant below cleared Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's own zone 9b and its 336-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls?
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 9 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SERENITY KNOLLS TREATMENT CENTER ACADIA HEALTHCAREBrownfields · 500 ft
- SAN GERONIMO GOLF COURSEBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS SAMUEL P TAYLOR SPBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- MARIN MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICTBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- CITY OF SAN RAFAEL-FIRE DEPTBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- CITY OF SAN RAFAEL-FIRE DEPARMENTBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- Maillard RanchMining · 3.2 mi
- HAMILTON AFBBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- HAMILTON AFBSuperfund · 3.2 mi
- JEREMY GAUNTBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- SKYWALKER PROPERTIESBrownfields · 3.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lagunitas-Forest Knolls'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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls.
Total Sites
905
within ~10 miles of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 834 sites within ~10 miles of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls. 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls average
Your land is one point inside Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
Everything above resolves to Lagunitas-Forest Knolls as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Marin 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls Average
Lagunitas-Forest Knolls Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
- ●One soil character for all of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
- ●Frost dates read at Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's scale: Jan 9 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lagunitas-Forest Knolls averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lagunitas-Forest Knolls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lagunitas-Forest Knolls average
How we know this about Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
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 Marin 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
When does frost risk typically end in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls typically lands around Jan 9, 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 Jan 30.
When is the first frost in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls 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 336 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls sees about 336 frost-free days — roughly Jan 9 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jan 30 to Nov 27, about 301 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls?
The federal record around Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is a meaningful one — 905 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (834), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls?
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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's scale — its 9b band and its 336-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls'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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's own scale — the 2,717 acres it covers and 905 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 905 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's boundary and the 2,717 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~336-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Lagunitas-Forest Knolls sits in the Coast Range — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lagunitas-Forest Knolls has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Marin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's 2,717 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marin 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 Marin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lagunitas-Forest Knolls's 2,717 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,717 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls-wide figureread your own land →
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