Paradise, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Paradise, 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 Paradise 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 Paradise — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Paradise — the short answer
Paradise, California: USDA zone 9b, about 332 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 19
- Butte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 17
- Butte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~332
- Butte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 12K 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 Butte County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Paradise's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paradise's 332-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paradise
Each reading below is measured for Paradise itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsParadise runs about 332 days between hard freezes (read from Butte County, the closest normal to Paradise) — 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
MeasuredParadise 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 Paradise is in
Paradise sits in the Cascades — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Paradise's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Butte County is mostly Central California Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Paradise
Every plant below cleared Paradise's own zone 9b and its 332-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Paradise?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 17 — 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 Paradise
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paradise. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PARADISE TRANSMISSIONBrownfields · 250 ft
- ACE RENTALSBrownfields · 350 ft
- VIKING USED AUTO PARTSBrownfields · 600 ft
- PRECISION AUTO WERKSBrownfields · 600 ft
- SKYWAY TOWING & AUTOBrownfields · 600 ft
- MOBIL #58306Brownfields · 650 ft
- TESORO REFINING & MARKETING COMPANY LLC SITE 58306Brownfields · 700 ft
- PARADISE PRINTING COBrownfields · 950 ft
- THOMAS ACE HARDWAREBrownfields · 1100 ft
- CRAIG DREBERTS AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 1100 ft
- AMERICAN MUFFLER WRIGHT WHEEL & BRAKEBrownfields · 1200 ft
- PARADISE USD/BUS & MAINTENANCE WAREHOUSE YARDBrownfields · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Paradise'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 Paradise.
Total Sites
392
within ~10 miles of Paradise
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Paradise
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paradise
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Paradise, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Paradise — Mining (75 sites) and Brownfields (258 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Paradise
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 Paradise average
Your land is one point inside Paradise
Everything above resolves to Paradise as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 12K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Butte 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 Paradise Average
Paradise Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Paradise
- ●One soil character for all of Paradise
- ●Frost dates read at Paradise's scale: Jan 19 to Dec 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paradise's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paradise
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paradise, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paradise averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paradise — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paradise average
How we know this about Paradise
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 Butte 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 Paradise
When does frost risk typically end in Paradise?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paradise typically lands around Jan 19, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Paradise?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paradise typically arrives around Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 3, so the watching starts about Nov 17 — about 332 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Paradise?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paradise sees about 332 frost-free days — roughly Jan 19 through Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 9 to Dec 3, about 297 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Paradise?
The federal record around Paradise is a meaningful one — 392 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (258), the nearest Brownfields 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 Paradise?
From about Nov 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Paradise's scale — its 9b band and its 332-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paradise'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 Paradise’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Paradise's own scale — the 11,722 acres it covers and 392 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paradise's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 392 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paradise, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paradise's boundary and the 11,722 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~332-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Paradise sits in the Cascades — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Paradise has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Butte County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Paradise's 11,722 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Butte County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Butte 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 Butte County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Paradise's 11,722 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paradise you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,722 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 Paradise-wide figureread your own land →
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