Broussard, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Broussard, 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 Broussard 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 Broussard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Broussard — the short answer
Broussard, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 313 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 29
- Lafayette Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Lafayette Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~313
- Lafayette Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 12K 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 Lafayette Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Broussard's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Broussard's 313-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Broussard
Each reading below is measured for Broussard itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBroussard runs about 313 days between hard freezes (read from Lafayette Parish, the closest normal to Broussard) — 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
MeasuredBroussard 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 Broussard is in
Broussard sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Broussard's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lafayette Parish.
What Grows in Broussard
Every plant below cleared Broussard's own zone 9a and its 313-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Broussard?
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 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Broussard
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Broussard. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LUKE'S COLLISION CENTER, LLCBrownfields · 500 ft
- Lf-445Nitrate · 2000 ft
- DUFRENE PIPE CO, INCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- Lf-446Nitrate · 2200 ft
- SHERWIN-WILLIAMS #7592Brownfields · 2200 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL 7300Brownfields · 2300 ft
- ALBERTSONS 2756Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- LORMAND EQUIPMENT REFURBISHING INCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- RECON COATINGSBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- B&L SanitationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Food-N-Fun #20Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MACHINE TECH SVCSBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Broussard'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 Broussard.
Total Sites
2,563
within ~10 miles of Broussard
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Broussard
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Broussard
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Broussard, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 1,378 sites within ~10 miles of Broussard. 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 Broussard
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 Broussard average
Your land is one point inside Broussard
Everything above resolves to Broussard as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 12K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lafayette 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 Broussard Average
Broussard Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Broussard
- ●One soil character for all of Broussard
- ●Frost dates read at Broussard's scale: Jan 29 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Broussard's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Broussard
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Broussard, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Broussard averages can't show:
We read public map data around Broussard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Broussard average
How we know this about Broussard
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 Lafayette 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 Broussard
When does frost risk typically end in Broussard?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Broussard typically lands around Jan 29, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Broussard?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Broussard typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 313 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Broussard?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Broussard sees about 313 frost-free days — roughly Jan 29 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 19 to Nov 24, about 278 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Broussard?
The federal record around Broussard is a meaningful one — 2,563 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (1,378), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Broussard?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Broussard's scale — its 9a band and its 313-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Broussard'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 Broussard’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Broussard's own scale — the 11,628 acres it covers and 2,563 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Broussard's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,563 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Broussard, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Broussard's boundary and the 11,628 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~313-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Broussard's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Broussard has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lafayette Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Broussard's 11,628 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lafayette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lafayette 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 Lafayette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Broussard's 11,628 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Broussard you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,628 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Broussard-wide figureread your own land →
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