Valley Wells, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — tomato, artichoke, fig, and california poppy — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Valley Wells, 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 Valley Wells 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 Valley Wells — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Valley Wells — the short answer
Valley Wells, California: USDA zone 9b, about 237 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 26
- Inyo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 18
- Inyo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~237
- Inyo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Inyo County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Valley Wells's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Valley Wells's 237-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Valley Wells
Each reading below is measured for Valley Wells itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsValley Wells runs about 237 days between hard freezes (read from Inyo County, the closest normal to Valley Wells) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredValley Wells 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 Valley Wells is in
Valley Wells sits in the Mojave Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Valley Wells's own centroid rather than borrowed from Inyo County.
What Grows in Valley Wells
Plants matched to Valley Wells's USDA zones 9b, 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 Valley Wells?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Valley Wells
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Valley Wells. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Silver KingMining · 1.8 mi
- Silver King MineMining · 1.8 mi
- Copper Claim GroupMining · 2.4 mi
- Four LeadsMining · 2.6 mi
- Grimes and SextonMining · 3.8 mi
- MoonlightMining · 3.8 mi
- LeadMining · 3.9 mi
- OphirMining · 4.3 mi
- Ophir MineMining · 4.4 mi
- Stockwell MineMining · 4.8 mi
- Slate RangeMining · 5.3 mi
- Copper QueenMining · 6.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Valley Wells'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 Valley Wells.
Total Sites
45
within ~10 miles of Valley Wells
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Valley Wells
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Valley Wells
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Valley Wells, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Valley Wells — Mining (25 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Valley Wells
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 Valley Wells average
Your land is one point inside Valley Wells
Everything above resolves to Valley Wells as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Inyo 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 Valley Wells Average
Valley Wells Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Valley Wells
- ●One soil character for all of Valley Wells
- ●Frost dates read at Valley Wells's scale: Mar 26 to Nov 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Valley Wells's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Valley Wells
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Valley Wells, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Valley Wells averages can't show:
We read public map data around Valley Wells — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Valley Wells average
How we know this about Valley Wells
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 Inyo 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 Valley Wells
When does frost risk typically end in Valley Wells?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Valley Wells typically lands around Mar 26, 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 Apr 16.
When is the first frost in Valley Wells?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Valley Wells typically arrives around Nov 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 4, so the watching starts about Oct 19 — about 237 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Valley Wells?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Valley Wells sees about 237 frost-free days — roughly Mar 26 through Nov 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 16 to Nov 4, about 202 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Valley Wells?
The federal record around Valley Wells is a meaningful one — 45 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (25), the nearest Mining record about 1.8 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 Valley Wells?
From about Oct 19 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 Nov 18 (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 Nov 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Valley Wells's scale — its 9b band and its 237-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Valley Wells'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 Valley Wells’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Valley Wells's own scale — the 6,828 acres it covers and 45 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Valley Wells's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 45 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Valley Wells, the closest Mining record about 1.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Valley Wells's boundary and the 6,828 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Valley Wells's own centroid, the Mojave Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Valley Wells has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Inyo County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Valley Wells's 6,828 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Inyo 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 Inyo 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 Inyo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Valley Wells's 6,828 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Valley Wells you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,828 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 1.8 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 Valley Wells-wide figureread your own land →
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