Bernice, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bernice, 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 Bernice 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 Bernice — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bernice — the short answer
Bernice, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Union Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Union Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- Union 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 Union Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Bernice's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bernice's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bernice
Each reading below is measured for Bernice itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBernice runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from Union Parish, the closest normal to Bernice) — 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
MeasuredBernice sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Bernice is in
Bernice sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bernice's own centroid rather than borrowed from Union Parish.
What Grows in Bernice
Every plant below cleared Bernice's own zone 8b and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bernice?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Bernice
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bernice. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Tony Stop 2Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #9064Brownfields · 950 ft
- B&B Car WashUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- LADOTD - RoadsideUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- TRI WARD GENERAL HOSPITALBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Lindsey Bonded CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Bernice ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- MIKES AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 2100 ft
- Obers Property & Jo's Sweets & BarbequeUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Highway 2 GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Un-18Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- BERNICE CYLINDERSuperfund · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bernice'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 Bernice.
Total Sites
121
within ~10 miles of Bernice
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bernice
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bernice
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bernice, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 58 sites within ~10 miles of Bernice. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Bernice
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 Bernice average
Your land is one point inside Bernice
Everything above resolves to Bernice as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Union 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 Bernice Average
Bernice Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Bernice
- ●One soil character for all of Bernice
- ●Frost dates read at Bernice's scale: Feb 22 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bernice's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bernice
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bernice, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bernice averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bernice — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bernice average
How we know this about Bernice
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 Union 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 Bernice
When does frost risk typically end in Bernice?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bernice typically lands around Feb 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 Mar 15.
When is the first frost in Bernice?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bernice typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bernice?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bernice sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 17, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bernice?
The federal record around Bernice is a meaningful one — 121 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (58), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Bernice?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bernice's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bernice'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 Bernice’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bernice's own scale — the 2,073 acres it covers and 121 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bernice's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 121 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bernice, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bernice's boundary and the 2,073 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bernice's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bernice has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Union Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bernice's 2,073 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Union County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Union 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 Union County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bernice's 2,073 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bernice you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,073 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Bernice-wide figureread your own land →
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