Stinson Beach, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with avocado, meyer lemon, tomato, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Stinson Beach, 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 Stinson Beach 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 Stinson Beach — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Stinson Beach — the short answer
Stinson Beach, California: USDA zone 10b, about 336 days between hard freezes, across 571 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10b
- 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
- 571 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 10b is Stinson Beach's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stinson Beach's 336-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stinson Beach
Each reading below is measured for Stinson Beach itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsStinson Beach runs about 336 days between hard freezes (read from Marin County, the closest normal to Stinson Beach) — 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
MeasuredStinson Beach sits in USDA hardiness zone 10b.
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 Stinson Beach is in
Stinson Beach sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Stinson Beach's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Marin County is mostly Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Stinson Beach
Plants matched to Stinson Beach's USDA zones 10b, 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 Stinson Beach?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
Documented around Stinson Beach
Spotted lanternfly documented 25 miles from Stinson Beach, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Stinson Beach
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stinson Beach. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- McKinnan GulchMining · 1.9 mi
- SMILEY'S SALOON & HOTELBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- Bolinas Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- NPS PRNS - BEACHESBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- GOSPEL FLAT FARMBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATIONBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- AT&T MOBILITYBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- CITY OF SAN RAFAEL FIRE DEPARTMENTBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- MARY NISBETBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- ClaimMining · 3.0 mi
- Pike GulchMining · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stinson Beach'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 Stinson Beach.
Total Sites
1,149
within ~10 miles of Stinson Beach
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stinson Beach
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stinson Beach
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Stinson Beach, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 1,068 sites within ~10 miles of Stinson Beach. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Stinson Beach
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 Stinson Beach average
Your land is one point inside Stinson Beach
Everything above resolves to Stinson Beach as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 571 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 Stinson Beach Average
Stinson Beach Average
- ●USDA Zones 10b, averaged across Stinson Beach
- ●One soil character for all of Stinson Beach
- ●Frost dates read at Stinson Beach's scale: Jan 9 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stinson Beach's 10b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stinson Beach
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stinson Beach, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stinson Beach averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stinson Beach — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stinson Beach average
How we know this about Stinson Beach
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 Stinson Beach
When does frost risk typically end in Stinson Beach?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stinson Beach 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 Stinson Beach?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stinson Beach 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 Stinson Beach?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stinson Beach 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 Stinson Beach?
The federal record around Stinson Beach is a meaningful one — 1,149 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (1,068), 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 Stinson Beach?
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 Stinson Beach's scale — its 10b band and its 336-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stinson Beach'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 Stinson Beach’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Stinson Beach's own scale — the 571 acres it covers and 1,149 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stinson Beach's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,149 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stinson Beach, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stinson Beach's boundary and the 571 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Stinson Beach sits in the Coast Range — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Stinson Beachlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Stinson Beach 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 Stinson Beach's 571 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marin 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 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 Stinson Beach's 571 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stinson Beach you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 571 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 Stinson Beach-wide figureread your own land →