Paynes Creek, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include tomato, artichoke, fig, and california poppy; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Paynes Creek, 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 Paynes Creek 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 Paynes Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Paynes Creek — the short answer
Paynes Creek, California: USDA zone 9a, about 325 days between hard freezes, across 2K 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
- 2K 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 Paynes Creek's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paynes Creek's 325-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paynes Creek
Each reading below is measured for Paynes Creek itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPaynes Creek runs about 325 days between hard freezes (read from Tehama County, the closest normal to Paynes Creek) — 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
MeasuredPaynes Creek 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 Paynes Creek is in
Paynes Creek sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Paynes Creek's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tehama County.
What Grows in Paynes Creek
Plants matched to Paynes Creek'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 Paynes Creek?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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. 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 Paynes Creek
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paynes Creek. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ISHI CONSERVATION CAMPBrownfields · 4.6 mi
- DARRAH SPRINGS FISH HATCHERYBrownfields · 5.9 mi
- PG&E MANTON SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 7.1 mi
- 028N002E06J001MNitrate · 7.8 mi
- 029N002E29H001MNitrate · 8.4 mi
- SHASTA COUNTY DEPT OF RESOURCE MGMNTBrownfields · 9.4 mi
- BLACK BUTTE CINDERSBrownfields · 9.5 mi
Measured from Paynes Creek'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 Paynes Creek.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paynes Creek
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Paynes Creek
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 Paynes Creek average
Your land is one point inside Paynes Creek
Everything above resolves to Paynes Creek as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K 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 Paynes Creek Average
Paynes Creek Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Paynes Creek
- ●One soil character for all of Paynes Creek
- ●Frost dates read at Paynes Creek's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paynes Creek's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paynes Creek
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paynes Creek, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paynes Creek averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paynes Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paynes Creek average
How we know this about Paynes Creek
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 Paynes Creek
When does frost risk typically end in Paynes Creek?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paynes Creek 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 Paynes Creek?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paynes Creek 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 Paynes Creek?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paynes Creek 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 Paynes Creek?
The federal record around Paynes Creek is light — 9 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (5), the nearest Brownfields record about 4.6 miles 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 Paynes Creek?
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 Paynes Creek's scale — its 9a band and its 325-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paynes Creek'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 Paynes Creek’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Paynes Creek's own scale — the 2,196 acres it covers and 9 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paynes Creek's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 9 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paynes Creek, the closest Brownfields record about 4.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paynes Creek's boundary and the 2,196 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Paynes Creek's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Paynes Creek 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 Paynes Creek's 2,196 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 Paynes Creek's 2,196 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paynes Creek you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,196 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 4.6 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 Paynes Creek-wide figureread your own land →