Jackson, 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.
Growers here do well with artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Jackson, 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 Jackson 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 Jackson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Jackson — the short answer
Jackson, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 12
- East Feliciana Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 7
- East Feliciana Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- East Feliciana 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 East Feliciana Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Jackson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jackson's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Jackson
Each reading below is measured for Jackson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsJackson runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from East Feliciana Parish, the closest normal to Jackson) — 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
MeasuredJackson 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 Jackson is in
Jackson sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Jackson's own centroid rather than borrowed from East Feliciana Parish.
What Grows in Jackson
Every plant below cleared Jackson's own zone 9a and its 298-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Jackson?
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 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 7 — 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 Jackson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Jackson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ELAMS AUTO SVCBrownfields · 950 ft
- Eastern LA Mental Health SystemUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Best Stop Quick Mart #9Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- EF-228ANitrate · 1700 ft
- EF-228BNitrate · 1700 ft
- The Daily StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- EF-41Nitrate · 2100 ft
- Feliciana Auto PartsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- EF-3Nitrate · 2500 ft
- Jackson Town ofUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- EF-219Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- BellSouth Telecommunications - Jcsnlama - K3214Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jackson'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 Jackson.
Total Sites
204
within ~10 miles of Jackson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Jackson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Jackson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jackson, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 102 sites within ~10 miles of Jackson. 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 Jackson
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 Jackson average
Your land is one point inside Jackson
Everything above resolves to Jackson as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from East Feliciana 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 Jackson Average
Jackson Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Jackson
- ●One soil character for all of Jackson
- ●Frost dates read at Jackson's scale: Feb 12 to Dec 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jackson's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Jackson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jackson, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jackson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jackson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jackson average
How we know this about Jackson
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 East Feliciana 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 Jackson
When does frost risk typically end in Jackson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jackson typically lands around Feb 12, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Jackson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Jackson typically arrives around Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 23, so the watching starts about Nov 7 — about 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Jackson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jackson sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 12 through Dec 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 5 to Nov 23, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jackson?
The federal record around Jackson is a meaningful one — 204 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (102), the nearest Brownfields 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 Jackson?
From about Nov 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Jackson's scale — its 9a band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jackson'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 Jackson’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Jackson's own scale — the 2,857 acres it covers and 204 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jackson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 204 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Jackson, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Jackson's boundary and the 2,857 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Jackson's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Jackson has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom East Feliciana Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Jackson's 2,857 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom East Feliciana County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom East Feliciana 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 East Feliciana County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jackson's 2,857 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Jackson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,857 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Jackson-wide figureread your own land →
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