Linda, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Linda, 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 Linda 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 Linda — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Linda — the short answer
Linda, California: USDA zone 9b, about 331 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 15
- Yuba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Yuba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~331
- Yuba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Yuba County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Linda's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Linda's 331-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Linda
Each reading below is measured for Linda itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length
From county recordsLinda runs about 331 days between hard freezes (read from Yuba County, the closest normal to Linda) — 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
MeasuredLinda 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 Linda is in
Linda sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Linda's own centroid rather than borrowed from Yuba County.
What Grows in Linda
Every plant below cleared Linda's own zone 9b and its 331-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.






























Is it too late to plant in Linda?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Linda
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Linda. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FEATHER RIVER VETERINARY HOSPITALBrownfields · 1300 ft
- LALLY FOOD MARTBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Lally Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CASCADE FIREBrownfields · 1400 ft
- YUBA COMMUNITY COLLEGEBrownfields · 1600 ft
- COLLEGE VILLA MARKETBrownfields · 1700 ft
- College Villa MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 2500 ft
- KENTS AUTO REPAIR MOBILE MECHANICBrownfields · 2500 ft
- QUICK-N-SAVEBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Quick and SaveUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GENE ISAAKBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Linda'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 Linda.
Total Sites
958
within ~10 miles of Linda
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Linda
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Linda
Highest-Severity Sites

A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Linda, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Linda — Brownfields (641 sites) and PFAS (8 sites). 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.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Linda
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 Linda average
Your land is one point inside Linda
Everything above resolves to Linda as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Yuba 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 Linda Average
Linda Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Linda
- ●One soil character for all of Linda
- ●Frost dates read at Linda's scale: Jan 15 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Linda's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Linda
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Linda, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Linda averages can't show:
We read public map data around Linda — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Linda average
How we know this about Linda
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 Yuba 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 Linda
When does frost risk typically end in Linda?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Linda typically lands around Jan 15, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Linda?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Linda typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 331 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Linda?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Linda sees about 331 frost-free days — roughly Jan 15 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 5 to Nov 28, about 296 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Linda?
The federal record around Linda is a meaningful one — 958 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (641), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Linda?
From about Nov 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Linda's scale — its 9b band and its 331-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Linda'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 Linda’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Linda's own scale — the 5,495 acres it covers and 958 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Linda's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 958 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Linda, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Linda's boundary and the 5,495 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~331-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Linda's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Linda has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Yuba County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Linda's 5,495 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Yuba County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Yuba 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 Yuba County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Linda's 5,495 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Linda you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,495 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Linda-wide figureread your own land →
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