Anacoco, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Anacoco, 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 Anacoco 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 Anacoco — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Anacoco — the short answer
Anacoco, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 295 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Vernon Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Vernon Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~295
- Vernon Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Vernon Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Anacoco's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Anacoco's 295-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Anacoco
Each reading below is measured for Anacoco itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAnacoco runs about 295 days between hard freezes (read from Vernon Parish, the closest normal to Anacoco) — 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
MeasuredAnacoco 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 Anacoco is in
Anacoco sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Anacoco's own centroid rather than borrowed from Vernon Parish.
What Grows in Anacoco
Every plant below cleared Anacoco's own zone 9a and its 295-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Anacoco?
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 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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 Anacoco
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Anacoco. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- E&N Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- W H SmartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Harralson Lumber CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- J&L MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL 10238Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- V-270Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- V-434Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- V-419Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- V-281Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- Vernon Lake GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- CULI CHIROPRACTIC CTRBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- E&N Kwik StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Anacoco'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 Anacoco.
Total Sites
213
within ~10 miles of Anacoco
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Anacoco
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Anacoco
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Anacoco, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 60 sites within ~10 miles of Anacoco. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Anacoco
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 Anacoco average
Your land is one point inside Anacoco
Everything above resolves to Anacoco as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Vernon Parish’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 Anacoco Average
Anacoco Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Anacoco
- ●One soil character for all of Anacoco
- ●Frost dates read at Anacoco's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Anacoco's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Anacoco
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Anacoco, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Anacoco averages can't show:
We read public map data around Anacoco — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Anacoco average
How we know this about Anacoco
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 Vernon Parish’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 Anacoco
When does frost risk typically end in Anacoco?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Anacoco typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Anacoco?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Anacoco typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 295 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Anacoco?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Anacoco sees about 295 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 19, about 260 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Anacoco?
The federal record around Anacoco is a meaningful one — 213 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (94), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Anacoco?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Anacoco's scale — its 9a band and its 295-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Anacoco'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 Anacoco’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Anacoco's own scale — the 1,973 acres it covers and 213 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Anacoco's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 213 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Anacoco, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Anacoco's boundary and the 1,973 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~295-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Anacoco's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Anacoco has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Vernon Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Anacoco's 1,973 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Vernon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Vernon County
- The growing challenges every Louisiana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Louisiana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Vernon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Anacoco's 1,973 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Anacoco you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,973 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Anacoco-wide figureread your own land →
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