Smith River, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit avocado, meyer lemon, tomato, and artichoke — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Smith River, 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 Smith River 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 Smith River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Smith River — the short answer
Smith River, California: USDA zone 10a, about 293 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Del Norte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Del Norte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~293
- Del Norte County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Del Norte County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Smith River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Smith River's 293-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Smith River
Each reading below is measured for Smith River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSmith River runs about 293 days between hard freezes (read from Del Norte County, the closest normal to Smith River) — 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
MeasuredSmith River sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
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 Smith River is in
Smith River sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Smith River's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Del Norte County is mostly Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Smith River
Plants matched to Smith River's USDA zones 10a, 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 Smith River?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Smith River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Smith River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 018N001W26G003HNitrate · 750 ft
- TRIPLICATE SMITH RIVER PLANTBrownfields · 1700 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL 16787Brownfields · 1700 ft
- TMT RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT INCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- UNITED LILY GROWERS, INC.Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- DAHLSTROM & WATT BULB FARMS INCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- 017N001W04J001HNitrate · 2.7 mi
- STOUFFER TRUCKING LLCBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- Full Steam Ahead LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- ALEXANDRE DAIRYBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- PACIFIC POWER DEL NORTE SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- Fort Dick MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Smith River'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 Smith River.
Total Sites
104
within ~10 miles of Smith River
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Smith River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Smith River
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Smith River, Mining runs higher than the national average — 65 sites within ~10 miles of Smith River. 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.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Smith River
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 Smith River average
Your land is one point inside Smith River
Everything above resolves to Smith River as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Del Norte 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 Smith River Average
Smith River Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Smith River
- ●One soil character for all of Smith River
- ●Frost dates read at Smith River's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Smith River's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Smith River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Smith River, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Smith River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Smith River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Smith River average
How we know this about Smith River
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 Del Norte 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 Smith River
When does frost risk typically end in Smith River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Smith River typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Smith River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Smith River typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 293 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Smith River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Smith River sees about 293 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 22, about 258 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Smith River?
The federal record around Smith River is a meaningful one — 104 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (65), the nearest Nitrate 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 Smith River?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Smith River's scale — its 10a band and its 293-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Smith River'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 Smith River’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Smith River's own scale — the 2,832 acres it covers and 104 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Smith River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 104 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Smith River, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Smith River's boundary and the 2,832 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Smith River sits in the Coast Range — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Smith River has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Del Norte County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Smith River's 2,832 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Del Norte 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 Del Norte 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 Del Norte County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Smith River's 2,832 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Smith River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,832 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Smith River-wide figureread your own land →
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