Point Reyes Station, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Point Reyes Station, 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 Point Reyes Station 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 Point Reyes Station — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Point Reyes Station — the short answer
Point Reyes Station, California: USDA zone 9b, about 336 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 9
- Marin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Marin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~336
- Marin 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 Marin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Point Reyes Station's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Point Reyes Station's 336-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Point Reyes Station
Each reading below is measured for Point Reyes Station itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPoint Reyes Station runs about 336 days between hard freezes (read from Marin County, the closest normal to Point Reyes Station) — 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
MeasuredPoint Reyes Station 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 Point Reyes Station is in
Point Reyes Station sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Point Reyes Station's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marin County.
What Grows in Point Reyes Station
Every plant below cleared Point Reyes Station's own zone 9b and its 336-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Point Reyes Station?
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 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — 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 Point Reyes Station
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Point Reyes Station. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- USCG CAMSPAC SAN FRANCISCOSuperfund · 1.0 mi
- COASTAL HEALTH ALLIANCEBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- REDWOOD OIL COMPANYBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- Point Reyes StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- POINT REYES COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER PHARMACYBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- POINT REYES FIRE STATIONBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- MARIN COUNTY HAZARDOUS AND SOLID WASTE JPABrownfields · 1.1 mi
- CITY OF SAN RAFAEL FIRE DEPARTMENTBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- CHEDA'S GARAGEBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHOREBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- POINT REYES MAINTENANCE STNBrownfields · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Point Reyes Station'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 Point Reyes Station.
Total Sites
60
within ~10 miles of Point Reyes Station
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Point Reyes Station
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Point Reyes Station
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Point Reyes Station, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Point Reyes Station — Mining (15 sites) and Superfund (3 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Point Reyes Station
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 Point Reyes Station average
Your land is one point inside Point Reyes Station
Everything above resolves to Point Reyes Station as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Marin 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 Point Reyes Station Average
Point Reyes Station Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Point Reyes Station
- ●One soil character for all of Point Reyes Station
- ●Frost dates read at Point Reyes Station's scale: Jan 9 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Point Reyes Station's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Point Reyes Station
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Point Reyes Station, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Point Reyes Station averages can't show:
We read public map data around Point Reyes Station — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Point Reyes Station average
How we know this about Point Reyes Station
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 Marin 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 Point Reyes Station
When does frost risk typically end in Point Reyes Station?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Point Reyes Station typically lands around Jan 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 Jan 30.
When is the first frost in Point Reyes Station?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Point Reyes Station typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 336 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Point Reyes Station?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Point Reyes Station sees about 336 frost-free days — roughly Jan 9 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jan 30 to Nov 27, about 301 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Point Reyes Station?
The federal record around Point Reyes Station is a meaningful one — 60 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (37), the nearest Superfund record about 1.0 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 Point Reyes Station?
From about Nov 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Point Reyes Station's scale — its 9b band and its 336-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Point Reyes Station'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 Point Reyes Station’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Point Reyes Station's own scale — the 2,314 acres it covers and 60 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Point Reyes Station's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 60 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Point Reyes Station, the closest Superfund record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Point Reyes Station's boundary and the 2,314 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~336-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Point Reyes Station'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 — Point Reyes Station has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Marin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Point Reyes Station's 2,314 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marin 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 Marin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Point Reyes Station's 2,314 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Point Reyes Station you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,314 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 1.0 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 Point Reyes Station-wide figureread your own land →