Delhi, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Delhi, 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 Delhi 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 Delhi — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Delhi — the short answer
Delhi, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Richland Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Richland Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Richland 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 Richland Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Delhi's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Delhi's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Delhi
Each reading below is measured for Delhi itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDelhi runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Richland Parish, the closest normal to Delhi) — 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
MeasuredDelhi 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 Delhi is in
Delhi sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Delhi's own centroid rather than borrowed from Richland Parish.
What Grows in Delhi
Every plant below cleared Delhi's own zone 8b and its 289-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Delhi?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 Nov 30 — 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 Delhi
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Delhi. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ri-18Nitrate · 1000 ft
- Lloyd's Self ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PERRY POSTBrownfields · 1000 ft
- RICHLAND PARISH HOSPITALBrownfields · 1200 ft
- MIKES BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Delhi ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Ri-3Nitrate · 1400 ft
- TIRE MART INCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- MOORE & PATRON TIRE CO INCBrownfields · 1600 ft
- DELHI DRY CLNRSBrownfields · 1600 ft
- Jones Oil Co of LA IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Henry Till FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Delhi'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 Delhi.
Total Sites
172
within ~10 miles of Delhi
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Delhi
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Delhi
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Delhi, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 84 sites within ~10 miles of Delhi. 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 Delhi
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 Delhi average
Your land is one point inside Delhi
Everything above resolves to Delhi as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Richland 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 Delhi Average
Delhi Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Delhi
- ●One soil character for all of Delhi
- ●Frost dates read at Delhi's scale: Feb 14 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Delhi's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Delhi
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Delhi, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Delhi averages can't show:
We read public map data around Delhi — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Delhi average
How we know this about Delhi
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 Richland 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 Delhi
When does frost risk typically end in Delhi?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Delhi 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 Delhi?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Delhi typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Delhi?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Delhi sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 16, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Delhi?
The federal record around Delhi is a meaningful one — 172 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (84), the nearest Nitrate 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 Delhi?
From about Oct 31 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 Nov 30 (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 Nov 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Delhi's scale — its 8b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Delhi'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 Delhi’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Delhi's own scale — the 1,838 acres it covers and 172 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Delhi's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 172 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Delhi, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Delhi's boundary and the 1,838 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Delhi's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Delhi has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Richland Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Delhi's 1,838 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Richland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Richland 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 Richland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Delhi's 1,838 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Delhi you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,838 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Delhi-wide figureread your own land →
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