Homer, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Homer, 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 Homer 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 Homer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Homer — the short answer
Homer, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 265 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 2
- Claiborne Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Claiborne Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~265
- Claiborne 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 Claiborne Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Homer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Homer's 265-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Homer
Each reading below is measured for Homer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsHomer runs about 265 days between hard freezes (read from Claiborne Parish, the closest normal to Homer) — 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
MeasuredHomer 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 Homer is in
Homer sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Homer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Claiborne Parish.
What Grows in Homer
Every plant below cleared Homer's own zone 8b and its 265-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Homer?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — 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 Homer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Homer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JEEMS BAYOU PROD CORPBrownfields · 650 ft
- Huey DeanUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- McKenzie Brothers Garage & Towing LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- City WarehouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Claiborne Memorial Medical CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- HOMER MEMORIAL HOSPITALBrownfields · 1000 ft
- THE GUARDIAN JOURNALBrownfields · 1100 ft
- MCKENZIE BROTHERS GARAGE & TOWING LLCBrownfields · 1100 ft
- THOMAS AUTO CAREBrownfields · 1100 ft
- Hollenshead GlassUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- HOMER DRY CLNRSBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Lonnie's Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Homer'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 Homer.
Total Sites
152
within ~10 miles of Homer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Homer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Homer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Homer, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 50 sites within ~10 miles of Homer. 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 Homer
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 Homer average
Your land is one point inside Homer
Everything above resolves to Homer as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Claiborne 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 Homer Average
Homer Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Homer
- ●One soil character for all of Homer
- ●Frost dates read at Homer's scale: Mar 2 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Homer's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Homer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Homer, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Homer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Homer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Homer average
How we know this about Homer
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 Claiborne 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 Homer
When does frost risk typically end in Homer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Homer typically lands around Mar 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Homer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Homer typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 265 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Homer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Homer sees about 265 frost-free days — roughly Mar 2 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 23 to Nov 8, about 230 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Homer?
The federal record around Homer is a meaningful one — 152 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (67), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Homer?
From about Oct 23 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 Nov 22 (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 Nov 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Homer's scale — its 8b band and its 265-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Homer'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 Homer’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Homer's own scale — the 2,978 acres it covers and 152 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Homer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 152 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Homer, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Homer's boundary and the 2,978 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~265-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Homer's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Homer has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Claiborne Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Homer's 2,978 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Claiborne County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Claiborne 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 Claiborne County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Homer's 2,978 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Homer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,978 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Homer-wide figureread your own land →
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