Scotia, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Scotia, 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 Scotia 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 Scotia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Scotia — the short answer
Scotia, California: USDA zone 9b, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 477 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 1
- Humboldt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- Humboldt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~278
- Humboldt County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 477 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 Humboldt County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Scotia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Scotia's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Scotia
Each reading below is measured for Scotia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsScotia runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Humboldt County, the closest normal to Scotia) — 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
MeasuredScotia 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 Scotia is in
Scotia sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Scotia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Humboldt County.
What Grows in Scotia
Every plant below cleared Scotia's own zone 9b and its 278-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Scotia?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — 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 Scotia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Scotia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HUMBOLDT REDWOOD COMPANY LUMBER MILLToxics Release Inventory · 550 ft
- HUMBOLDT REDWOOD COMPANY LUMBER MILLBrownfields · 550 ft
- AT&T California - TE033Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- PACIFIC BELL C/O ALLEN TE033Brownfields · 750 ft
- HUMBOLDT REDWOOD COMPANY LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- HUMBOLDT REDWOOD COMPANY LLCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- BERTAIN LAUNDRY & DRY CLEANERBrownfields · 1900 ft
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 1900 ft
- DAYLE LAWRENCE DBA DAYLES DIESEL & GENERATORBrownfields · 2100 ft
- SCOTIA CARDLOCKBrownfields · 2200 ft
- L & M Renner Inc - Scotia CardlockUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- DELLARINA BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Scotia'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 Scotia.
Total Sites
152
within ~10 miles of Scotia
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Scotia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Scotia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Scotia, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Scotia — CAFO (5 sites) and Brownfields (117 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Scotia
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 Scotia average
Your land is one point inside Scotia
Everything above resolves to Scotia as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 477 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Humboldt 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 Scotia Average
Scotia Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Scotia
- ●One soil character for all of Scotia
- ●Frost dates read at Scotia's scale: Mar 1 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Scotia's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Scotia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Scotia, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Scotia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Scotia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Scotia average
How we know this about Scotia
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 Humboldt 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 Scotia
When does frost risk typically end in Scotia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Scotia typically lands around Mar 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Scotia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Scotia typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 278 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Scotia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Scotia sees about 278 frost-free days — roughly Mar 1 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 22 to Nov 20, about 243 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Scotia?
The federal record around Scotia is a meaningful one — 152 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (117), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.1 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 Scotia?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Scotia's scale — its 9b band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Scotia'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 Scotia’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Scotia's own scale — the 477 acres it covers and 152 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Scotia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 152 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Scotia, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Scotia's boundary and the 477 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Scotia's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Scotia has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Humboldt County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Scotia's 477 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Humboldt County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Humboldt 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 Humboldt County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Scotia's 477 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Scotia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 477 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.1 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 Scotia-wide figureread your own land →
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