Independence, 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.
A short list that earns its place here — artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Independence, 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 Independence 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 Independence — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Independence — the short answer
Independence, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 291 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Tangipahoa Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Tangipahoa Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~291
- Tangipahoa 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 Tangipahoa Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Independence's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Independence's 291-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Independence
Each reading below is measured for Independence itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsIndependence runs about 291 days between hard freezes (read from Tangipahoa Parish, the closest normal to Independence) — 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
MeasuredIndependence 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 Independence is in
Independence sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Independence's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Tangipahoa Parish is mostly Southeastern Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Independence
Every plant below cleared Independence'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 Independence?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — 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 Independence
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Independence. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Dollar General #7146Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- BellSouth Telecommunications - Indplama - J2806Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Anthony's Body ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Huck Milling CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL 7146Brownfields · 1400 ft
- Ta-252ANitrate · 1700 ft
- Ta-247Nitrate · 1700 ft
- Ta-271Nitrate · 1700 ft
- Ta-262Nitrate · 1700 ft
- Ta-16Nitrate · 1700 ft
- 4-Way Jiffy MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Vicks GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Independence'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 Independence.
Total Sites
562
within ~10 miles of Independence
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Independence
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Independence
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Independence, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Independence. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Independence
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 Independence average
Your land is one point inside Independence
Everything above resolves to Independence as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tangipahoa 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 Independence Average
Independence Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Independence
- ●One soil character for all of Independence
- ●Frost dates read at Independence's scale: Feb 15 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Independence's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Independence
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Independence, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Independence averages can't show:
We read public map data around Independence — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Independence average
How we know this about Independence
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 Tangipahoa 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 Independence
When does frost risk typically end in Independence?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Independence typically lands around Feb 15, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Independence?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Independence typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 291 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Independence?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Independence sees about 291 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 19, about 256 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Independence?
The federal record around Independence is a meaningful one — 562 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (242), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Independence?
From about Nov 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Independence's scale — its 9a band and its 291-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Independence'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 Independence’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Independence's own scale — the 1,550 acres it covers and 562 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Independence's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 562 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Independence, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Independence's boundary and the 1,550 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~291-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Independence sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Independence has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tangipahoa Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Independence's 1,550 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tangipahoa County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tangipahoa 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 Tangipahoa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Independence's 1,550 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Independence you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,550 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Independence-wide figureread your own land →
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