Los Molinos, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, tomato, artichoke, fig, and california poppy all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Los Molinos, 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 Los Molinos 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 Los Molinos — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Los Molinos — the short answer
Los Molinos, California: USDA zone 9a, about 325 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~325
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Tehama County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Los Molinos's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Los Molinos's 325-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Los Molinos
Each reading below is measured for Los Molinos itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLos Molinos runs about 325 days between hard freezes (read from Tehama County, the closest normal to Los Molinos) — 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
MeasuredLos Molinos 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 Los Molinos is in
Los Molinos sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Los Molinos's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Tehama 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 Los Molinos
Plants matched to Los Molinos's USDA zones 9a, 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 Los Molinos?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 13 — 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 Los Molinos
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Los Molinos. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- cost u lessUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- LANE TRACTOR SALES INCBrownfields · 500 ft
- AMPLA HEALTH LOS MOLINOS MEDICALBrownfields · 600 ft
- FAST TRACK GAS AND FOODBrownfields · 800 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #14507Brownfields · 850 ft
- FAST TRACKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 1600 ft
- LONSTAR ENTERPRISES INCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- 025N002W16F002MNitrate · 1900 ft
- 025N002W09M001MNitrate · 0.5 mi
- Crossland's 6Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 025N002W16P001MNitrate · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Los Molinos'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 Los Molinos.
Total Sites
302
within ~10 miles of Los Molinos
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Los Molinos
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Los Molinos
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Los Molinos, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 174 sites within ~10 miles of Los Molinos. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Los Molinos
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 Los Molinos average
Your land is one point inside Los Molinos
Everything above resolves to Los Molinos as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tehama 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 Los Molinos Average
Los Molinos Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Los Molinos
- ●One soil character for all of Los Molinos
- ●Frost dates read at Los Molinos's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Los Molinos's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Los Molinos
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Los Molinos, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Los Molinos averages can't show:
We read public map data around Los Molinos — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Los Molinos average
How we know this about Los Molinos
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 Tehama 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 Los Molinos
When does frost risk typically end in Los Molinos?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Los Molinos typically lands around Jan 22, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Los Molinos?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Los Molinos typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 325 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Los Molinos?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Los Molinos sees about 325 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Nov 29, about 290 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Los Molinos?
The federal record around Los Molinos is a meaningful one — 302 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (174), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Los Molinos?
From about Nov 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Los Molinos's scale — its 9a band and its 325-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Los Molinos'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 Los Molinos’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Los Molinos's own scale — the 1,391 acres it covers and 302 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Los Molinos's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 302 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Los Molinos, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Los Molinos's boundary and the 1,391 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Los Molinos sits in the Central California Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Los Molinos has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tehama County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Los Molinos's 1,391 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tehama 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 Tehama 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 Tehama County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Los Molinos's 1,391 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Los Molinos you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,391 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Los Molinos-wide figureread your own land →