Catahoula, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Catahoula, 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 Catahoula 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 Catahoula — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Catahoula — the short answer
Catahoula, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 308 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 1
- St. Martin Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- St. Martin Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~308
- St. Martin 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 St. Martin Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Catahoula's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Catahoula's 308-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Catahoula
Each reading below is measured for Catahoula itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCatahoula runs about 308 days between hard freezes (read from St. Martin Parish, the closest normal to Catahoula) — 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
MeasuredCatahoula 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 Catahoula is in
Catahoula sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Catahoula's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Martin Parish.
What Grows in Catahoula
Every plant below cleared Catahoula's own zone 9a and its 308-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Catahoula?
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 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Catahoula
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Catahoula. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Bernis Tire & Service Center LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Catahoula Cash GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SMn-109Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- SMn-108Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- Harold GrangerUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SMn-5381ZNitrate · 0.8 mi
- Spell's Service Station LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Guidrys Lakeside GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- M&D Supply LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 21185Brownfields · 1.5 mi
- SMn-5376ZNitrate · 1.9 mi
- Granger IG StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Catahoula'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 Catahoula.
Total Sites
236
within ~10 miles of Catahoula
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Catahoula
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Catahoula
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Catahoula, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Catahoula — PFAS (5 sites) and Nitrate (90 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Catahoula
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 Catahoula average
Your land is one point inside Catahoula
Everything above resolves to Catahoula as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from St. Martin 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 Catahoula Average
Catahoula Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Catahoula
- ●One soil character for all of Catahoula
- ●Frost dates read at Catahoula's scale: Feb 1 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Catahoula's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Catahoula
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Catahoula, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Catahoula averages can't show:
We read public map data around Catahoula — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Catahoula average
How we know this about Catahoula
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 St. Martin 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 Catahoula
When does frost risk typically end in Catahoula?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Catahoula typically lands around Feb 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Catahoula?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Catahoula typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 308 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Catahoula?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Catahoula sees about 308 frost-free days — roughly Feb 1 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 22 to Nov 22, about 273 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Catahoula?
The federal record around Catahoula is a meaningful one — 236 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (90), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Catahoula?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Catahoula's scale — its 9a band and its 308-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Catahoula'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 Catahoula’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Catahoula's own scale — the 1,960 acres it covers and 236 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Catahoula's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 236 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Catahoula, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Catahoula's boundary and the 1,960 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~308-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Catahoula's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Catahoula has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom St. Martin Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Catahoula's 1,960 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Martin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Martin 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 St. Martin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Catahoula's 1,960 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Catahoula you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,960 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Catahoula-wide figureread your own land →