Franklinton, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Franklinton, 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 Franklinton 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 Franklinton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Franklinton — the short answer
Franklinton, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 294 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 14
- Washington Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Washington Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~294
- Washington Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Washington Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Franklinton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Franklinton's 294-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Franklinton
Each reading below is measured for Franklinton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFranklinton runs about 294 days between hard freezes (read from Washington Parish, the closest normal to Franklinton) — 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
MeasuredFranklinton 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 Franklinton is in
Franklinton sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Franklinton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington Parish.
What Grows in Franklinton
Every plant below cleared Franklinton's own zone 9a and its 294-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Franklinton?
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 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 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 Franklinton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Franklinton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Jonco TractorUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Paul Harvey's AmocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Smith Accounting FirmUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- East End GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SICARD MTRS INCBrownfields · 750 ft
- Sicard Motors IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- TAYLORS AUTOBrownfields · 850 ft
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #1473Brownfields · 1000 ft
- Shop & Save GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Triple X Auto RepairUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- TRIPLE X AUTO RPRBrownfields · 1300 ft
- SUNSHINE QUALITY SOLUTIONS LLCBrownfields · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Franklinton'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 Franklinton.
Total Sites
195
within ~10 miles of Franklinton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Franklinton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Franklinton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Franklinton, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Franklinton. 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.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Franklinton
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 Franklinton average
Your land is one point inside Franklinton
Everything above resolves to Franklinton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Washington 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 Franklinton Average
Franklinton Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Franklinton
- ●One soil character for all of Franklinton
- ●Frost dates read at Franklinton's scale: Feb 14 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Franklinton's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Franklinton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Franklinton, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Franklinton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Franklinton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Franklinton average
How we know this about Franklinton
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 Washington 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 Franklinton
When does frost risk typically end in Franklinton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Franklinton 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 Franklinton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Franklinton 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 294 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Franklinton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Franklinton sees about 294 frost-free days — roughly Feb 14 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 7 to Nov 21, about 259 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Franklinton?
The federal record around Franklinton shows 195 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (103), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Franklinton?
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 Franklinton's scale — its 9a band and its 294-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Franklinton'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 Franklinton’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Franklinton's own scale — the 2,797 acres it covers and 195 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Franklinton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 195 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Franklinton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Franklinton's boundary and the 2,797 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~294-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Franklinton's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Franklinton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Washington Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Franklinton's 2,797 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington 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 Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Franklinton's 2,797 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Franklinton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,797 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Franklinton-wide figureread your own land →
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