Lewiston, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor tomato, fig, california poppy, and grape, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lewiston, 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 Lewiston 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 Lewiston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lewiston — the short answer
Lewiston, California: USDA zone 8b, about 204 days between hard freezes, across 13K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- Trinity County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 17
- Trinity County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~204
- Trinity County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 13K 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 Trinity County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lewiston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lewiston's 204-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lewiston
Each reading below is measured for Lewiston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLewiston runs about 204 days between hard freezes (read from Trinity County, the closest normal to Lewiston) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLewiston 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 Lewiston is in
Lewiston sits in the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Lewiston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Trinity County.
What Grows in Lewiston
Plants matched to Lewiston's USDA zones 8b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Lewiston?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Lewiston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lewiston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LEWISTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICTBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- EH SUDA, INC DBA FABTRONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- TRACY'S AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- LEWISTON MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- 033N009W23A001MNitrate · 1.5 mi
- LEWISTON POWER HOUSEBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- CarterMining · 2.8 mi
- UnnamedMining · 3.1 mi
- 032N008W05P001MNitrate · 3.4 mi
- DaisyMining · 3.7 mi
- JuneMining · 3.9 mi
- 033N008W05A001MNitrate · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lewiston'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 Lewiston.
Total Sites
97
within ~10 miles of Lewiston
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lewiston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lewiston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lewiston, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lewiston — Mining (31 sites) and Brownfields (50 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Lewiston
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 Lewiston average
Your land is one point inside Lewiston
Everything above resolves to Lewiston as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 13K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Trinity 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 Lewiston Average
Lewiston Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lewiston
- ●One soil character for all of Lewiston
- ●Frost dates read at Lewiston's scale: Apr 27 to Nov 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lewiston's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lewiston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lewiston, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lewiston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lewiston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lewiston average
How we know this about Lewiston
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 Trinity 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 Lewiston
When does frost risk typically end in Lewiston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lewiston typically lands around Apr 27, 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 May 18.
When is the first frost in Lewiston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lewiston typically arrives around Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 3, so the watching starts about Oct 18 — about 204 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lewiston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lewiston sees about 204 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Nov 3, about 169 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lewiston?
The federal record around Lewiston runs heavier than most — 97 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (50), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lewiston?
From about Oct 18 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 Nov 17 (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 Nov 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lewiston's scale — its 8b band and its 204-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lewiston'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 Lewiston’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Lewiston's own scale — the 12,811 acres it covers and 97 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lewiston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 97 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lewiston, the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lewiston's boundary and the 12,811 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Lewiston's own centroid, the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lewiston has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Trinity County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lewiston's 12,811 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Trinity County
- The candidate plant list — California's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom California
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Trinity 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 Trinity County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lewiston's 12,811 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lewiston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,811 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 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 Lewiston-wide figureread your own land →
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