French Settlement, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 French Settlement, 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 French Settlement 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 French Settlement — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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French Settlement — the short answer
French Settlement, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Livingston Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Livingston Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- Livingston 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 Livingston Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is French Settlement's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against French Settlement's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in French Settlement
Each reading below is measured for French Settlement itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFrench Settlement runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from Livingston Parish, the closest normal to French Settlement) — 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
MeasuredFrench Settlement 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 French Settlement is in
French Settlement sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at French Settlement's own centroid rather than borrowed from Livingston Parish.
What Grows in French Settlement
Every plant below cleared French Settlement's own zone 9a and its 298-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in French Settlement?
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 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (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. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near French Settlement
Closest first, within ~10 miles of French Settlement. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Aydell's Automotive LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MICHAEL G SNYDER LLCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Darryl & Douglas Murphy - UST SiteUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Moonlight InnUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Best Stop Quick Mart #25Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Berthelot's BarUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- STOUTS COLLISION CENTERBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- Mart LarougeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- J&J Automotive of Port Vincent IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL #5892Brownfields · 1.8 mi
- Li-6487ZNitrate · 1.8 mi
- R & A AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from French Settlement'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 French Settlement.
Total Sites
505
within ~10 miles of French Settlement
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of French Settlement
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of French Settlement
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in French Settlement
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 French Settlement average
Your land is one point inside French Settlement
Everything above resolves to French Settlement as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Livingston 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 French Settlement Average
French Settlement Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across French Settlement
- ●One soil character for all of French Settlement
- ●Frost dates read at French Settlement's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not French Settlement's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in French Settlement
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in French Settlement, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that French Settlement averages can't show:
We read public map data around French Settlement — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the French Settlement average
How we know this about French Settlement
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 Livingston 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 French Settlement
When does frost risk typically end in French Settlement?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in French Settlement typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in French Settlement?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in French Settlement 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 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in French Settlement?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, French Settlement sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 22, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in French Settlement?
The federal record around French Settlement is a meaningful one — 505 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (221), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 French Settlement?
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 French Settlement's scale — its 9a band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of French Settlement'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 French Settlement’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at French Settlement's own scale — the 1,745 acres it covers and 505 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- French Settlement's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 505 documented contamination sites on the federal record near French Settlement, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- French Settlement's boundary and the 1,745 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at French Settlement's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — French Settlement has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Livingston Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so French Settlement's 1,745 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Livingston County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Livingston 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 Livingston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among French Settlement's 1,745 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of French Settlement you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,745 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 French Settlement-wide figureread your own land →
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