Loyalton, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, 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 Loyalton, 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 Loyalton 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 Loyalton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Loyalton — the short answer
Loyalton, California: USDA zone 6b, about 154 days between hard freezes, across 228 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~154
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 228 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 6b is Loyalton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Loyalton's 154-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Loyalton
Each reading below is measured for Loyalton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLoyalton runs about 154 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLoyalton sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Loyalton is in
Loyalton sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Loyalton's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Sierra County is mostly Sierra Nevada. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Loyalton
Every plant below cleared Loyalton's own zone 6b and its 154-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Loyalton?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Loyalton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Loyalton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 400 ft
- WHITE'S SIERRA STATION INCBrownfields · 600 ft
- White's Sierra StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- LOYALTON BULKPLANTBrownfields · 800 ft
- FMR SMITHNECK COUNTRY STOREBrownfields · 900 ft
- Sierra EnergyUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- DOHS SIERRA COUNTYBrownfields · 1400 ft
- ARP LOYALTON COGEN LLCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- SIERRA PACIFIC INDUSTRIESBrownfields · 1800 ft
- SIERRA PACIFIC INDUSTRIESToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- COUNTY OF SIERRA DEPT OF PUBLIC WORKSBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- LOYALTON TRANSFER STATIONBrownfields · 2.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Loyalton'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 Loyalton.
Total Sites
32
within ~10 miles of Loyalton
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Loyalton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Loyalton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Loyalton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Loyalton — Mining (8 sites) and Brownfields (19 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Loyalton
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 Loyalton average
Your land is one point inside Loyalton
Everything above resolves to Loyalton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 228 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 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 Loyalton Average
Loyalton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Loyalton
- ●One soil character for all of Loyalton
- ●Frost dates read at Loyalton's scale: May 9 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Loyalton's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Loyalton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Loyalton, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Loyalton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Loyalton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Loyalton average
How we know this about Loyalton
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 Loyalton’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 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 Loyalton
When does frost risk typically end in Loyalton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Loyalton typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Loyalton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Loyalton typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 154 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Loyalton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Loyalton sees about 154 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 26, about 119 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Loyalton?
The federal record around Loyalton is light — 32 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (19), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Loyalton?
From about Sep 10 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 Oct 10 (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 Oct 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Loyalton's scale — its 6b band and its 154-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Loyalton'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 Loyalton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Loyalton's own scale — its own ~154-day season between 28°F freezes, the 228 acres it covers and 32 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Loyalton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Loyalton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 10 and the ~154-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 32 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Loyalton, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Loyalton's boundary and the 228 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~154-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Loyalton sits in the Central 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 Loyalton's 228 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sierra County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sierra 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 Sierra County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Loyalton's 228 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Loyalton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 228 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Loyalton-wide figureread your own land →