Kaplan, 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.
The conditions favor okra, satsuma orange, live oak, and pecan, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kaplan, 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 Kaplan 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 Kaplan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kaplan — the short answer
Kaplan, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 315 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Vermilion Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Vermilion Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~315
- Vermilion Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Vermilion Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Kaplan's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kaplan's 315-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kaplan
Each reading below is measured for Kaplan itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsKaplan runs about 315 days between hard freezes (read from Vermilion Parish, the closest normal to Kaplan) — 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
MeasuredKaplan 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 Kaplan is in
Kaplan sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Kaplan's own centroid rather than borrowed from Vermilion Parish.
What Grows in Kaplan
Plants matched to Kaplan's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Kaplan?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — 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 Kaplan
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kaplan. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Chin's Full ServeUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Northside Exxon Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Ve-2Nitrate · 1800 ft
- Ve-579Nitrate · 1800 ft
- CHENIER GAS PLANT 1Brownfields · 2000 ft
- ISTRE AUTO RPRBrownfields · 2000 ft
- GULFWAY MARINE INCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- Lemaire's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- TGPL Kaplan CrewUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Greenes Boat SalesUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Hanks Flying Svc of Vermilion ParishUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- MICKEYS SPORTING GOODSBrownfields · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kaplan'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 Kaplan.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kaplan
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kaplan
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kaplan, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Kaplan. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Kaplan
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 Kaplan average
Your land is one point inside Kaplan
Everything above resolves to Kaplan as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Vermilion Parish’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Kaplan Average
Kaplan Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Kaplan
- ●One soil character for all of Kaplan
- ●Frost dates read at Kaplan's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kaplan's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kaplan
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kaplan, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kaplan averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kaplan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kaplan average
How we know this about Kaplan
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Vermilion 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Kaplan
When does frost risk typically end in Kaplan?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kaplan typically lands around Jan 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Kaplan?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kaplan typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 315 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kaplan?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kaplan sees about 315 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Nov 22, about 280 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kaplan?
The federal record around Kaplan is a meaningful one — 264 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (104), 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 Kaplan?
From about Nov 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kaplan's scale — its 9a band and its 315-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kaplan'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 Kaplan’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Kaplan's own scale — the 1,490 acres it covers and 264 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kaplan's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 264 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kaplan, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kaplan's boundary and the 1,490 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Kaplan's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Kaplan has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Vermilion Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kaplan's 1,490 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Vermilion County
- The candidate plant list — Louisiana's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Louisiana
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Vermilion 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 Vermilion County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kaplan's 1,490 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kaplan you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,490 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 Kaplan-wide figureread your own land →
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