Gilliam, 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.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Gilliam, 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 Gilliam 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 Gilliam — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gilliam — the short answer
Gilliam, 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 16
- Caddo Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Caddo Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Caddo 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 Caddo Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Gilliam's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gilliam's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gilliam
Each reading below is measured for Gilliam itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGilliam runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Caddo Parish, the closest normal to Gilliam) — 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
MeasuredGilliam 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 Gilliam is in
Gilliam sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Gilliam's own centroid rather than borrowed from Caddo Parish.
What Grows in Gilliam
Every plant below cleared Gilliam'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 Gilliam?
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 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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 Gilliam
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gilliam. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Brown's RadiatorUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Jasper M LynnUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Gilliam Gin CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Bruce LynnUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Gilliam Ag Chemical IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Gilliam Service & Supply IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GILLIAM SERVICE & SUPPLY INC.Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- Gilliam Agriculture ChemUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ONEILLS USABrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Muslow & ParkerUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Cd-513Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- Cd-345Nitrate · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gilliam'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 Gilliam.
Total Sites
280
within ~10 miles of Gilliam
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gilliam
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gilliam
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gilliam, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 106 sites within ~10 miles of Gilliam. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Gilliam
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 Gilliam average
Your land is one point inside Gilliam
Everything above resolves to Gilliam as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Caddo 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 Gilliam Average
Gilliam Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Gilliam
- ●One soil character for all of Gilliam
- ●Frost dates read at Gilliam's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gilliam's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gilliam
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gilliam, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gilliam averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gilliam — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gilliam average
How we know this about Gilliam
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 Caddo 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 Gilliam
When does frost risk typically end in Gilliam?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gilliam typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Gilliam?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gilliam typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gilliam?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gilliam sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 18, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gilliam?
The federal record around Gilliam is a meaningful one — 280 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (125), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Gilliam?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gilliam's scale — its 8b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gilliam'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 Gilliam’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Gilliam's own scale — the 1,514 acres it covers and 280 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gilliam's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 280 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gilliam, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gilliam's boundary and the 1,514 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 Gilliam's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Gilliam has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Caddo Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gilliam's 1,514 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Caddo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Caddo 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 Caddo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gilliam's 1,514 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gilliam you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,514 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Gilliam-wide figureread your own land →
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