Vina, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Vina, 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 Vina 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 Vina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Vina — the short answer
Vina, California: USDA zone 9a, about 325 days between hard freezes, across 865 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~325
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 865 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 Tehama County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Vina's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Vina's 325-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Vina
Each reading below is measured for Vina itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsVina runs about 325 days between hard freezes (read from Tehama County, the closest normal to Vina) — 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
MeasuredVina 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 Vina is in
Vina sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Vina's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Tehama 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 Vina
Plants matched to Vina's USDA zones 9a, 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 Vina?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 13 — 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 Vina
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Vina. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 550 ft
- 024N002W14K001MNitrate · 850 ft
- ABBEY RANCH INCBrownfields · 1000 ft
- 024N002W14G001MNitrate · 1000 ft
- 024N002W14R001MNitrate · 1800 ft
- 024N002W23B002MNitrate · 0.6 mi
- AMERICAN TOWER CORPORATIONBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- 024N002W12P001MNitrate · 1.0 mi
- 024N002W12P002MNitrate · 1.0 mi
- 024N001W18N001MNitrate · 1.3 mi
- FARMLAND MANAGMENT SERVICEBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- 024N002W26A001MNitrate · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Vina'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 Vina.
Total Sites
309
within ~10 miles of Vina
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Vina
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Vina
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Vina, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 194 sites within ~10 miles of Vina. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Vina
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 Vina average
Your land is one point inside Vina
Everything above resolves to Vina as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 865 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tehama 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 Vina Average
Vina Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Vina
- ●One soil character for all of Vina
- ●Frost dates read at Vina's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Vina's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Vina
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Vina, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Vina averages can't show:
We read public map data around Vina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Vina average
How we know this about Vina
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 Tehama 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 Vina
When does frost risk typically end in Vina?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Vina typically lands around Jan 22, 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 Feb 12.
When is the first frost in Vina?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Vina typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 325 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Vina?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Vina sees about 325 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Nov 29, about 290 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Vina?
The federal record around Vina is a meaningful one — 309 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (194), the nearest Brownfields 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 Vina?
From about Nov 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Vina's scale — its 9a band and its 325-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Vina'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 Vina’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Vina's own scale — the 865 acres it covers and 309 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Vina's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 309 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Vina, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Vina's boundary and the 865 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Vina sits in the Central California Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Vina has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tehama County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Vina's 865 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tehama 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 Tehama 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 Tehama County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Vina's 865 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Vina you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 865 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Vina-wide figureread your own land →