Clarence, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Clarence, 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 Clarence 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 Clarence — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clarence — the short answer
Clarence, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 292 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Natchitoches Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Natchitoches Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~292
- Natchitoches Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Natchitoches Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Clarence's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clarence's 292-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Clarence
Each reading below is measured for Clarence itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsClarence runs about 292 days between hard freezes (read from Natchitoches Parish, the closest normal to Clarence) — 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
MeasuredClarence 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 Clarence is in
Clarence sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Clarence's own centroid rather than borrowed from Natchitoches Parish.
What Grows in Clarence
Every plant below cleared Clarence's own zone 9a and its 292-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clarence?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Clarence
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clarence. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- A & W AUTOS INCBrownfields · 150 ft
- Gene's Mini-PakUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- Frank's Gulf - 100435Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Natchitoches Motor CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Na-77Nitrate · 550 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #18751Brownfields · 550 ft
- Na-308Nitrate · 850 ft
- Tony's StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- LADOTDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Fred's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Bill's ConocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Barnetts GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clarence'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 Clarence.
Total Sites
470
within ~10 miles of Clarence
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clarence
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clarence
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Clarence, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 200 sites within ~10 miles of Clarence. 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 Clarence
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 Clarence average
Your land is one point inside Clarence
Everything above resolves to Clarence as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Natchitoches 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 Clarence Average
Clarence Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Clarence
- ●One soil character for all of Clarence
- ●Frost dates read at Clarence's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clarence's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clarence
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clarence, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clarence averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clarence — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clarence average
How we know this about Clarence
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 Natchitoches 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 Clarence
When does frost risk typically end in Clarence?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clarence 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 Clarence?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clarence 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 292 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Clarence?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clarence sees about 292 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 19, about 257 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clarence?
The federal record around Clarence is a meaningful one — 470 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (200), 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 Clarence?
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 Clarence's scale — its 9a band and its 292-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clarence'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 Clarence’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Clarence's own scale — the 1,006 acres it covers and 470 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clarence's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 470 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clarence, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clarence's boundary and the 1,006 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~292-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Clarence's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Clarence has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Natchitoches Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Clarence's 1,006 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Natchitoches County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Natchitoches 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 Natchitoches County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clarence's 1,006 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clarence you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,006 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 Clarence-wide figureread your own land →
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