Mer Rouge, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Mer Rouge, 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 Mer Rouge 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 Mer Rouge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mer Rouge — the short answer
Mer Rouge, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 280 days between hard freezes, across 750 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 21
- Morehouse Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Morehouse Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~280
- Morehouse Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 750 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 Morehouse Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Mer Rouge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mer Rouge's 280-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mer Rouge
Each reading below is measured for Mer Rouge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMer Rouge runs about 280 days between hard freezes (read from Morehouse Parish, the closest normal to Mer Rouge) — 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
MeasuredMer Rouge sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Mer Rouge is in
Mer Rouge sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mer Rouge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Morehouse Parish.
What Grows in Mer Rouge
Every plant below cleared Mer Rouge's own zone 8b and its 280-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mer Rouge?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — 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 Mer Rouge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mer Rouge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Spillers Oil Co Inc - Woodward Conoco (The Station)Underground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL 15838Brownfields · 450 ft
- Bonne Idee Aero Service IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Kennedy ElevatorUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Kennedy Rice DryersUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Mo-16Nitrate · 450 ft
- Mo-86Nitrate · 450 ft
- Betty Ann Miller Johnson GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Parker's Phil A BagUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- FSCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- CEFCO dba Food Fast #1109Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD - DERAIL SITEBrownfields · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mer Rouge'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 Mer Rouge.
Total Sites
308
within ~10 miles of Mer Rouge
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mer Rouge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mer Rouge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mer Rouge, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 98 sites within ~10 miles of Mer Rouge. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Mer Rouge
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 Mer Rouge average
Your land is one point inside Mer Rouge
Everything above resolves to Mer Rouge as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 750 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Morehouse 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 Mer Rouge Average
Mer Rouge Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Mer Rouge
- ●One soil character for all of Mer Rouge
- ●Frost dates read at Mer Rouge's scale: Feb 21 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mer Rouge's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mer Rouge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mer Rouge, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mer Rouge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mer Rouge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mer Rouge average
How we know this about Mer Rouge
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 Morehouse 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 Mer Rouge
When does frost risk typically end in Mer Rouge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mer Rouge typically lands around Feb 21, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Mer Rouge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mer Rouge typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 280 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mer Rouge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mer Rouge sees about 280 frost-free days — roughly Feb 21 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 14 to Nov 14, about 245 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mer Rouge?
The federal record around Mer Rouge is a meaningful one — 308 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (130), 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 Mer Rouge?
From about Oct 29 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 Nov 28 (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 Nov 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mer Rouge's scale — its 8b band and its 280-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mer Rouge'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 Mer Rouge’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Mer Rouge's own scale — the 750 acres it covers and 308 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mer Rouge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 308 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mer Rouge, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mer Rouge's boundary and the 750 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~280-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mer Rouge's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Mer Rouge has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Morehouse Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mer Rouge's 750 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Morehouse County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Morehouse 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 Morehouse County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mer Rouge's 750 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mer Rouge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 750 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 Mer Rouge-wide figureread your own land →
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