Palo Verde, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect tomato, artichoke, fig, and california poppy to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Palo Verde, 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 Palo Verde 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 Palo Verde — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Palo Verde — the short answer
Palo Verde, California: USDA zone 9a, about 344 days between hard freezes, across 371 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 15
- Imperial County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 25
- Imperial County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~344
- Imperial County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 371 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 Imperial County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Palo Verde's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Palo Verde's 344-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Palo Verde
Each reading below is measured for Palo Verde itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPalo Verde runs about 344 days between hard freezes (read from Imperial County, the closest normal to Palo Verde) — 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
MeasuredPalo Verde 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 Palo Verde is in
Palo Verde sits in the Sonoran Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Palo Verde's own centroid rather than borrowed from Imperial County.
What Grows in Palo Verde
Plants matched to Palo Verde'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 Palo Verde?
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 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Palo Verde
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Palo Verde. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 009S021E02G001SNitrate · 1100 ft
- 009S021E02G002SNitrate · 1100 ft
- Palo Verde ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 009S021E02C002SNitrate · 0.5 mi
- TOHSHIN TRADING INCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- RIVER VALLEY RANCHESBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- SSVI INC DBA CHEVRONBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- PALO VERDE COUNTY WATER DISTRICTBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- 009S021E03Q001SNitrate · 1.3 mi
- 009S021E15A001SNitrate · 1.8 mi
- 008S021E24H003SNitrate · 2.9 mi
- 008S021E24H002SNitrate · 2.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Palo Verde'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 Palo Verde.
Total Sites
136
within ~10 miles of Palo Verde
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Palo Verde
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Palo Verde
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Palo Verde, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 120 sites within ~10 miles of Palo Verde. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Palo Verde
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 Palo Verde average
Your land is one point inside Palo Verde
Everything above resolves to Palo Verde as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 371 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Imperial 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 Palo Verde Average
Palo Verde Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Palo Verde
- ●One soil character for all of Palo Verde
- ●Frost dates read at Palo Verde's scale: Jan 15 to Dec 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Palo Verde's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Palo Verde
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Palo Verde, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Palo Verde averages can't show:
We read public map data around Palo Verde — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Palo Verde average
How we know this about Palo Verde
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 Imperial 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 Palo Verde
When does frost risk typically end in Palo Verde?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Palo Verde 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 Palo Verde?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Palo Verde typically arrives around Dec 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 11, so the watching starts about Nov 25 — about 344 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Palo Verde?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Palo Verde sees about 344 frost-free days — roughly Jan 15 through Dec 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 5 to Dec 11, about 309 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Palo Verde?
The federal record around Palo Verde is a meaningful one — 136 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (120), 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 Palo Verde?
From about Nov 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Palo Verde's scale — its 9a band and its 344-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Palo Verde'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 Palo Verde’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Palo Verde's own scale — the 371 acres it covers and 136 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Palo Verde's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 136 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Palo Verde, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Palo Verde's boundary and the 371 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Palo Verde's own centroid, the Sonoran Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Palo Verde has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Imperial County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Palo Verde's 371 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Imperial 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 Imperial 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 Imperial County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Palo Verde's 371 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Palo Verde you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 371 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 Palo Verde-wide figureread your own land →