Salyer, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Salyer, 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 Salyer 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 Salyer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Salyer — the short answer
Salyer, California: USDA zone 9a, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Salyer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Salyer's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Salyer
Each reading below is measured for Salyer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSalyer runs about 298 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredSalyer 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 Salyer is in
Salyer sits in the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Salyer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Trinity County.
What Grows in Salyer
Every plant below cleared Salyer's own zone 9a and its 298-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Salyer?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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 Salyer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Salyer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SALYER GUARD STATIONBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- 006N006E19G001HNitrate · 1.3 mi
- Koon RanchMining · 1.7 mi
- MCKNIGHT READI MIX/MCKNIGHT LOGGING & CONSTRUCTIONBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- WILLOW CREEK TOWING & AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- R BROWN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY INCBrownfields · 4.1 mi
- LOST CREEK FARMSBrownfields · 4.7 mi
- PANTHER GAP ORGANIC RANCHBrownfields · 4.7 mi
- BUDDYS AUTO CENTER INCBrownfields · 4.8 mi
- FRONTIER CALIFORNIA INCBrownfields · 5.1 mi
- Speedex - Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- SPEED EXBrownfields · 5.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Salyer'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 Salyer.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Salyer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Salyer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Salyer, Mining runs higher than the national average — 15 sites within ~10 miles of Salyer. 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.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Salyer
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 Salyer average
Your land is one point inside Salyer
Everything above resolves to Salyer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K acres. 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 Salyer Average
Salyer Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Salyer
- ●One soil character for all of Salyer
- ●Frost dates read at Salyer's scale: Feb 10 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Salyer's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Salyer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Salyer, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Salyer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Salyer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Salyer average
How we know this about Salyer
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 Salyer’s own record; 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 Salyer
When does frost risk typically end in Salyer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Salyer typically lands around Feb 10, 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 Mar 3.
When is the first frost in Salyer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Salyer typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Salyer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Salyer sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 10 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 3 to Nov 21, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Salyer?
The federal record around Salyer is light — 41 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (19), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.1 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 Salyer?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Salyer's scale — its 9a band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Salyer'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 Salyer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Salyer's own scale — its own ~298-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,376 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Salyer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Salyer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Feb 10 and Dec 5 and the ~298-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Salyer, the closest Brownfields record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Salyer's boundary and the 3,376 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Salyer's own centroid, the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Salyer's 3,376 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Trinity County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Trinity 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 Trinity County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Salyer's 3,376 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Salyer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,376 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.1 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 Salyer-wide figureread your own land →
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