Bogalusa, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bogalusa, 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 Bogalusa 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 Bogalusa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bogalusa — the short answer
Bogalusa, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 294 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Washington Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Washington Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~294
- Washington Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Washington Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Bogalusa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bogalusa's 294-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bogalusa
Each reading below is measured for Bogalusa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBogalusa runs about 294 days between hard freezes (read from Washington Parish, the closest normal to Bogalusa) — 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
MeasuredBogalusa 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 Bogalusa is in
Bogalusa sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bogalusa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington Parish.
What Grows in Bogalusa
Every plant below cleared Bogalusa's own zone 9a and its 294-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bogalusa?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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 Bogalusa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bogalusa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Gaylord Container CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- INTERNATIONAL PAPER - BOGALUSA MILLToxics Release Inventory · 1300 ft
- INTERNATIONAL PAPER - BOGALUSA BOX PLANTBrownfields · 1800 ft
- BOGALUSA AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1900 ft
- James S FarmerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Wa-15Nitrate · 2000 ft
- Wa-33Nitrate · 2000 ft
- US Postal ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Wa-42Nitrate · 2000 ft
- TIN PEARL RIVER SPILLSuperfund · 2000 ft
- Wa-7Nitrate · 2100 ft
- Wa-56Nitrate · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bogalusa'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 Bogalusa.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bogalusa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bogalusa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bogalusa, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 88 sites within ~10 miles of Bogalusa. 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 Bogalusa
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 Bogalusa average
Your land is one point inside Bogalusa
Everything above resolves to Bogalusa as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Washington Parish’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Bogalusa Average
Bogalusa Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Bogalusa
- ●One soil character for all of Bogalusa
- ●Frost dates read at Bogalusa's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bogalusa's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bogalusa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bogalusa, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bogalusa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bogalusa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bogalusa average
How we know this about Bogalusa
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Washington 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Bogalusa
When does frost risk typically end in Bogalusa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bogalusa typically lands around Feb 14, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Bogalusa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bogalusa typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 294 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bogalusa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bogalusa sees about 294 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 21, about 259 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bogalusa?
The federal record around Bogalusa is a meaningful one — 264 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (96), 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 Bogalusa?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bogalusa's scale — its 9a band and its 294-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bogalusa'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 Bogalusa’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bogalusa's own scale — the 6,083 acres it covers and 264 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bogalusa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 264 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bogalusa, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bogalusa's boundary and the 6,083 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~294-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bogalusa's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bogalusa has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Washington Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bogalusa's 6,083 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington 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 Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bogalusa's 6,083 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bogalusa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,083 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 Bogalusa-wide figureread your own land →
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