Folsom, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include okra, pecan, muscadine grape, and live oak — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Folsom, 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 Folsom 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 Folsom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Folsom — the short answer
Folsom, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 300 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- St. Tammany Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- St. Tammany Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~300
- St. Tammany 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 St. Tammany Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Folsom's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Folsom's 300-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Folsom
Each reading below is measured for Folsom itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFolsom runs about 300 days between hard freezes (read from St. Tammany Parish, the closest normal to Folsom) — 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
MeasuredFolsom 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 Folsom is in
Folsom sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Folsom's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: St. Tammany Parish is mostly Southern Coastal Plain. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Folsom
Plants matched to Folsom's USDA zones 8b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Folsom?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (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. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Folsom
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Folsom. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- D&P FarmsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Gus RestaurantUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Folsom ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Gene's Tire ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Jr Food Mart #369Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ST-721BNitrate · 0.6 mi
- ST-726Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- ST-725Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- ST-721ANitrate · 0.6 mi
- Folsom SpurUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Folsom General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Jerry's Meat MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Folsom'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 Folsom.
Total Sites
126
within ~10 miles of Folsom
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Folsom
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Folsom
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Folsom, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Folsom. 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 Folsom
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 Folsom average
Your land is one point inside Folsom
Everything above resolves to Folsom as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from St. Tammany 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 Folsom Average
Folsom Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Folsom
- ●One soil character for all of Folsom
- ●Frost dates read at Folsom's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Folsom's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Folsom
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Folsom, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Folsom averages can't show:
We read public map data around Folsom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Folsom average
How we know this about Folsom
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. Tammany 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 Folsom
When does frost risk typically end in Folsom?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Folsom typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Folsom?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Folsom 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 300 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Folsom?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Folsom sees about 300 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 21, about 265 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Folsom?
The federal record around Folsom shows 126 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (45), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Folsom?
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 Folsom's scale — its 8b band and its 300-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Folsom'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 Folsom’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Folsom's own scale — the 1,273 acres it covers and 126 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Folsom's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 126 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Folsom, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Folsom's boundary and the 1,273 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Folsom sits in the Southeastern Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Folsom has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom St. Tammany Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Folsom's 1,273 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Tammany County
- The candidate plant list — Louisiana's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Louisiana
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Tammany 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. Tammany County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Folsom's 1,273 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Folsom you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,273 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Folsom-wide figureread your own land →
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