Iowa, 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.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Iowa, 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 Iowa 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 Iowa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Iowa — the short answer
Iowa, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 313 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 30
- Calcasieu Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Calcasieu Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~313
- Calcasieu 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 Calcasieu Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Iowa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Iowa's 313-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Iowa
Each reading below is measured for Iowa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsIowa runs about 313 days between hard freezes (read from Calcasieu Parish, the closest normal to Iowa) — 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
MeasuredIowa 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 Iowa is in
Iowa sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Iowa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Calcasieu Parish.
What Grows in Iowa
Every plant below cleared Iowa's own zone 9a and its 313-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Iowa?
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 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Iowa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Iowa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Richert Oil & Tire IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Leger Sidney CUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Jessie AugustineUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Calvin I ForemanUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Michael AugustineUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Ralph HardyUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- J C MillerUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Chris BebeeUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Gravity Drainage #7 Ward 8Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Exxon Co USA #53913Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Cu-651Nitrate · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Iowa'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 Iowa.
Total Sites
420
within ~10 miles of Iowa
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Iowa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Iowa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Iowa, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Iowa. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Iowa
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 Iowa average
Your land is one point inside Iowa
Everything above resolves to Iowa as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Calcasieu 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 Iowa Average
Iowa Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Iowa
- ●One soil character for all of Iowa
- ●Frost dates read at Iowa's scale: Jan 30 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Iowa's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Iowa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Iowa, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Iowa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Iowa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Iowa average
How we know this about Iowa
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 Calcasieu 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 Iowa
When does frost risk typically end in Iowa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Iowa typically lands around Jan 30, 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 Feb 20.
When is the first frost in Iowa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Iowa typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 313 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Iowa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Iowa sees about 313 frost-free days — roughly Jan 30 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 20 to Nov 25, about 278 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Iowa?
The federal record around Iowa is a meaningful one — 420 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (164), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Iowa?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Iowa's scale — its 9a band and its 313-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Iowa'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 Iowa’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Iowa's own scale — the 2,173 acres it covers and 420 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Iowa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 420 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Iowa, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Iowa's boundary and the 2,173 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~313-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Iowa's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Iowa has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Calcasieu Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Iowa's 2,173 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Calcasieu County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Calcasieu 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 Calcasieu County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Iowa's 2,173 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Iowa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,173 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Iowa-wide figureread your own land →
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