Plumas Lake, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Plumas Lake, 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 Plumas Lake 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 Plumas Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Plumas Lake — the short answer
Plumas Lake, California: USDA zone 9b, about 331 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 15
- Yuba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Yuba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~331
- Yuba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 8K 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 Yuba County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Plumas Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Plumas Lake's 331-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Plumas Lake
Each reading below is measured for Plumas Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPlumas Lake runs about 331 days between hard freezes (read from Yuba County, the closest normal to Plumas Lake) — 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
MeasuredPlumas Lake 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 Plumas Lake is in
Plumas Lake sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Plumas Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Yuba County.
What Grows in Plumas Lake
Every plant below cleared Plumas Lake's own zone 9b and its 331-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Plumas Lake?
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 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Plumas Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Plumas Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DANNA FARMS INCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- 013N004E20B003MNitrate · 1.1 mi
- MANUEL KAFKARESBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- 013N004E06M001MNitrate · 2.0 mi
- PARAMJIT RAHUL FARMSBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- TAYLOR BROS FARMS INCBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- DE VALENTINE ORCHARDS INCBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- R & M DE VALENTINE FARMSBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- 013N003E23C001MNitrate · 2.8 mi
- PLUMAS STOP & SHOPBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- Plumas Stop N ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- 014N004E32F001MNitrate · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Plumas Lake'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 Plumas Lake.
Total Sites
453
within ~10 miles of Plumas Lake
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Plumas Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Plumas Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Plumas Lake, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Plumas Lake — PFAS (6 sites) and Nitrate (188 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Plumas Lake
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 Plumas Lake average
Your land is one point inside Plumas Lake
Everything above resolves to Plumas Lake as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Yuba 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 Plumas Lake Average
Plumas Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Plumas Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Plumas Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Plumas Lake's scale: Jan 15 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Plumas Lake's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Plumas Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Plumas Lake, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Plumas Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Plumas Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Plumas Lake average
How we know this about Plumas Lake
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 Yuba 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 Plumas Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Plumas Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Plumas Lake 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 Plumas Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Plumas Lake typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 331 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Plumas Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Plumas Lake sees about 331 frost-free days — roughly Jan 15 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 5 to Nov 28, about 296 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Plumas Lake?
The federal record around Plumas Lake is a meaningful one — 453 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (230), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Plumas Lake?
From about Nov 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Plumas Lake's scale — its 9b band and its 331-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Plumas Lake'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 Plumas Lake’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Plumas Lake's own scale — the 7,576 acres it covers and 453 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Plumas Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 453 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Plumas Lake, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Plumas Lake's boundary and the 7,576 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~331-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Plumas Lake's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Plumas Lake has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Yuba County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Plumas Lake's 7,576 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Yuba County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Yuba 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 Yuba County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Plumas Lake's 7,576 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Plumas Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,576 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Plumas Lake-wide figureread your own land →
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