Warner Valley, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Warner Valley, 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 Warner Valley 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 Warner Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Warner Valley — the short answer
Warner Valley, California: USDA zone 7a, about 135 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~135
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 11K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 7a is Warner Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Warner Valley's 135-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Warner Valley
Each reading below is measured for Warner Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWarner Valley runs about 135 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWarner Valley sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Warner Valley is in
Warner Valley sits in the Cascades — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Warner Valley's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Plumas County is mostly Sierra Nevada. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Warner Valley
Every plant below cleared Warner Valley's own zone 7a and its 135-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Warner Valley?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Warner Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Warner Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CALIFORIA GUEST SERVICES D.B.A DRAKESBAD GUEST RANCHBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- AT&T MOBILITYBrownfields · 5.2 mi
- LAKE ALMANOR COUNTRY CLUB MWCPFAS · 7.3 mi
- 028N005E04Q001MNitrate · 7.9 mi
- 028N007E06K001MNitrate · 8.2 mi
- Corner StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- Chester ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- JONES AUTO & TRUCK REPAIRBrownfields · 8.8 mi
- NORTH STATE GROCERY INC DBA HOLIDAY MARKETBrownfields · 8.8 mi
- chester shell incUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- M&M GAS AND MINI MARTBrownfields · 8.8 mi
- Chester MiniMartUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Warner Valley'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 Warner Valley.
Total Sites
40
within ~10 miles of Warner Valley
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Warner Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Warner Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Warner Valley, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Warner Valley. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Warner Valley
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 Warner Valley average
Your land is one point inside Warner Valley
Everything above resolves to Warner Valley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 11K acres. 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 Warner Valley Average
Warner Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Warner Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Warner Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Warner Valley's scale: May 26 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Warner Valley's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Warner Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Warner Valley, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Warner Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Warner Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Warner Valley average
How we know this about Warner Valley
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 Warner Valley’s own record; 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 Warner Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Warner Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Warner Valley typically lands around May 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 Jun 16.
When is the first frost in Warner Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Warner Valley typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 135 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Warner Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Warner Valley sees about 135 frost-free days — roughly May 26 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 16 to Sep 24, about 100 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Warner Valley?
The federal record around Warner Valley is light — 40 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (26), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.0 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Warner Valley?
With about 135 frost-free days between hard freezes, Warner Valley rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 163 to 191 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 26 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Warner Valley's scale — its 7a band and its 135-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Warner Valley'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 Warner Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Warner Valley's own scale — its own ~135-day season between 28°F freezes, the 11,134 acres it covers and 40 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Warner Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Warner Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 26 and Oct 8 and the ~135-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 40 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Warner Valley, the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Warner Valley's boundary and the 11,134 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~135-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Warner Valley sits in the Cascades — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Warner Valley's 11,134 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Plumas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Plumas 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 Plumas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Warner Valley's 11,134 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Warner Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,134 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 Warner Valley-wide figureread your own land →