Glenmora, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Glenmora, 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 Glenmora 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 Glenmora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Glenmora — the short answer
Glenmora, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 13
- Rapides Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Rapides Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- Rapides 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 Rapides Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Glenmora's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Glenmora's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Glenmora
Each reading below is measured for Glenmora itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsGlenmora runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from Rapides Parish, the closest normal to Glenmora) — 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
MeasuredGlenmora 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 Glenmora is in
Glenmora sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Glenmora's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rapides Parish.
What Grows in Glenmora
Every plant below cleared Glenmora's own zone 9a and its 291-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Glenmora?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — 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 Glenmora
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Glenmora. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- R-623Nitrate · 900 ft
- R-1008BNitrate · 900 ft
- R-436Nitrate · 1000 ft
- R-254Nitrate · 1200 ft
- LADOTD - State Project # 014-05-0020 Station #1537Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Anna's Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Central LA Telephone CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Bullock's AmocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Willis' Shell ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- JW McDonald & SonsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Jackie's Fast StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Leebo's #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Glenmora'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 Glenmora.
Total Sites
171
within ~10 miles of Glenmora
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Glenmora
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Glenmora
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Glenmora, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 122 sites within ~10 miles of Glenmora. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Glenmora
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 Glenmora average
Your land is one point inside Glenmora
Everything above resolves to Glenmora as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Rapides 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 Glenmora Average
Glenmora Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Glenmora
- ●One soil character for all of Glenmora
- ●Frost dates read at Glenmora's scale: Feb 13 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Glenmora's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Glenmora
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Glenmora, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Glenmora averages can't show:
We read public map data around Glenmora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Glenmora average
How we know this about Glenmora
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 Rapides 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 Glenmora
When does frost risk typically end in Glenmora?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Glenmora typically lands around Feb 13, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Glenmora?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Glenmora typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Glenmora?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Glenmora sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 13 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 6 to Nov 17, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Glenmora?
The federal record around Glenmora shows 171 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (122), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Glenmora?
From about Nov 1 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Glenmora's scale — its 9a band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Glenmora'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 Glenmora’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Glenmora's own scale — the 1,107 acres it covers and 171 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Glenmora's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 171 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Glenmora, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Glenmora's boundary and the 1,107 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Glenmora's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Glenmora has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Rapides Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Glenmora's 1,107 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rapides County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rapides 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 Rapides County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Glenmora's 1,107 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Glenmora you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,107 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 Glenmora-wide figureread your own land →
More in Louisiana
Growing region
Nearby growing guides