Lakeport, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lakeport, 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 Lakeport 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 Lakeport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lakeport — the short answer
Lakeport, California: USDA zone 8b, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 26
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- Lake County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Lake County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lakeport's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lakeport's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lakeport
Each reading below is measured for Lakeport itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLakeport runs about 288 days between hard freezes (read from Lake County, the closest normal to Lakeport) — 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
MeasuredLakeport sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Lakeport is in
Lakeport sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Lakeport's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Lakeport
Every plant below cleared Lakeport's own zone 8b and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lakeport?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 26 (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. 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 Lakeport
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lakeport. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LAKEPORT TRANSMISSIONBrownfields · 750 ft
- LAKEPORT TRANSFER STATIONBrownfields · 1000 ft
- CITY OF LAKEPORTBrownfields · 1100 ft
- LAKE COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICEBrownfields · 1500 ft
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 1600 ft
- SHAWN ROGERS INDUSTRIESBrownfields · 1700 ft
- BRUNO FOODSBrownfields · 1800 ft
- LAKE COUNTY TRIBAL HEALTH PEDIATRICS AND OBSTETRICSBrownfields · 1800 ft
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICE - CALAKBrownfields · 1900 ft
- MAZZEI MOTORS INCBrownfields · 1900 ft
- CARLOS DC ELECTRIC REPAIRBrownfields · 1900 ft
- LAKEPORT MEDICAL GROUPBrownfields · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lakeport'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 Lakeport.
Total Sites
207
within ~10 miles of Lakeport
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lakeport
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lakeport
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lakeport, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lakeport — PFAS (3 sites) and Brownfields (154 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Lakeport
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 Lakeport average
Your land is one point inside Lakeport
Everything above resolves to Lakeport as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake 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 Lakeport Average
Lakeport Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lakeport
- ●One soil character for all of Lakeport
- ●Frost dates read at Lakeport's scale: Feb 26 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lakeport's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lakeport
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lakeport, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lakeport averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lakeport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lakeport average
How we know this about Lakeport
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 Lake 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 Lakeport
When does frost risk typically end in Lakeport?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lakeport typically lands around Feb 26, 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 Mar 19.
When is the first frost in Lakeport?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lakeport 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 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lakeport?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lakeport sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 26 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 19 to Nov 27, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lakeport?
The federal record around Lakeport is a meaningful one — 207 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (154), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Lakeport?
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 Lakeport's scale — its 8b band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lakeport'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 Lakeport’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lakeport's own scale — the 1,957 acres it covers and 207 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lakeport's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 207 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lakeport, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lakeport's boundary and the 1,957 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lakeport'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 — Lakeport has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lakeport's 1,957 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake 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 Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lakeport's 1,957 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lakeport you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,957 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 Lakeport-wide figureread your own land →
More in California
Wider growing context
What grows across CaliforniaLakeport sits outside our named growing regions, so California as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides