Killian, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Killian, 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 Killian 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 Killian — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Killian — the short answer
Killian, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Livingston Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Livingston Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- Livingston Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Livingston Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Killian's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Killian's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Killian
Each reading below is measured for Killian itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsKillian runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from Livingston Parish, the closest normal to Killian) — 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
MeasuredKillian 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 Killian is in
Killian sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Killian's own centroid rather than borrowed from Livingston Parish.
What Grows in Killian
Every plant below cleared Killian'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 Killian?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (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. 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 Killian
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Killian. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LADOTD - Killian Maintenance UnitUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Rome Ferry Market IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- S & W SMALL ENGINE RPRBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL #13874Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- Irma Lee RousseauUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Calvin Fayard SrUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Tickfaw MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- B&B Fish MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Clio Recreational Park CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- Li-6203ZNitrate · 4.2 mi
- NEWSTROM BATTERY COMPANY LLCBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- Albert S & Nell F AndersonUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Killian'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 Killian.
Total Sites
159
within ~10 miles of Killian
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Killian
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Killian
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Killian
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 Killian average
Your land is one point inside Killian
Everything above resolves to Killian as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Livingston 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 Killian Average
Killian Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Killian
- ●One soil character for all of Killian
- ●Frost dates read at Killian's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Killian's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Killian
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Killian, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Killian averages can't show:
We read public map data around Killian — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Killian average
How we know this about Killian
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 Livingston 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 Killian
When does frost risk typically end in Killian?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Killian typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Killian?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Killian 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 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Killian?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Killian sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 22, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Killian?
The federal record around Killian shows 159 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (74), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Killian?
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 Killian's scale — its 9a band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Killian'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 Killian’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Killian's own scale — the 6,968 acres it covers and 159 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Killian's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 159 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Killian, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Killian's boundary and the 6,968 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 Killian's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Killian has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Livingston Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Killian's 6,968 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Livingston County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Livingston 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 Livingston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Killian's 6,968 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Killian you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,968 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Killian-wide figureread your own land →
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