Littlerock, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Littlerock, 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 Littlerock 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 Littlerock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Littlerock — the short answer
Littlerock, California: USDA zone 9a, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Littlerock's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Littlerock's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Littlerock
Each reading below is measured for Littlerock itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLittlerock runs about 288 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredLittlerock sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Littlerock is in
Littlerock sits in the Mojave Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Littlerock's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Los Angeles County is mostly Southern California/Northern Baja Coast. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Littlerock
Every plant below cleared Littlerock's own zone 9a and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Littlerock?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Littlerock
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Littlerock. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 005N011W13B001SNitrate · 1200 ft
- 005N011W13G001SNitrate · 1500 ft
- LITTLEROCK GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR INC #10248Brownfields · 1600 ft
- 005N011W13K001SNitrate · 1700 ft
- 005N011W12Q001SNitrate · 2000 ft
- JOHNS TIRES AND BRAKESBrownfields · 2100 ft
- LITTLEROCK LIQUOR & JR MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- R AND D AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 2100 ft
- 005N011W13A001SNitrate · 2200 ft
- KEPPEL UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT MBrownfields · 2200 ft
- 005N011W12R001SNitrate · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Littlerock'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 Littlerock.
Total Sites
584
within ~10 miles of Littlerock
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Littlerock
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Littlerock
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Littlerock, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Littlerock — Brownfields (351 sites) and Nitrate (178 sites). 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Littlerock
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 Littlerock average
Your land is one point inside Littlerock
Everything above resolves to Littlerock as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 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 Littlerock Average
Littlerock Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Littlerock
- ●One soil character for all of Littlerock
- ●Frost dates read at Littlerock's scale: Feb 17 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Littlerock's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Littlerock
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Littlerock, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Littlerock averages can't show:
We read public map data around Littlerock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Littlerock average
How we know this about Littlerock
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 Littlerock’s own record; 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 Littlerock
When does frost risk typically end in Littlerock?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Littlerock typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Littlerock?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Littlerock typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Littlerock?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Littlerock sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 18, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Littlerock?
The federal record around Littlerock is a meaningful one — 584 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (351), the nearest Nitrate 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 Littlerock?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Littlerock's scale — its 9a band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Littlerock'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 Littlerock’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Littlerock's own scale — its own ~288-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,180 acres it covers and 584 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Littlerock's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Littlerock's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Feb 17 and Dec 2 and the ~288-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 584 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Littlerock, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Littlerock's boundary and the 1,180 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Littlerock sits in the Mojave Basin and Range — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Littlerock's 1,180 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 Littlerock's 1,180 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Littlerock you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,180 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Littlerock-wide figureread your own land →