Monroe, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Monroe, 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 Monroe 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 Monroe — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Monroe — the short answer
Monroe, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 19K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 18
- Ouachita Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 29
- Ouachita Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~284
- Ouachita Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 19K 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 Ouachita Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Monroe's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Monroe's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Monroe
Each reading below is measured for Monroe itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMonroe runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Ouachita Parish, the closest normal to Monroe) — 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
MeasuredMonroe 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 Monroe is in
Monroe sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Monroe's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Ouachita Parish is mostly South Central Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Monroe
Every plant below cleared Monroe's own zone 8b and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Monroe?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 29 — 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 Monroe
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Monroe. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TESTA DISTBrownfields · 1100 ft
- HERTZ EQUIPMENT RENTAL CORPBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Testa DistUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Hertz Equipment Rental CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- PENSKE TRUCK LEASING CO LPBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Metro Ambulance LtdUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- House of Flowers SP #002-01-0041Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- COLLEGETOWN IMPORTSBrownfields · 1600 ft
- Peking Restaurant - SP #002-01-0041Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- RW #6863 MonroeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Zyhan's AutomotiveUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GOLDSTONS PAINT & BODYBrownfields · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Monroe'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 Monroe.
Total Sites
1,227
within ~10 miles of Monroe
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
33 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Monroe
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Monroe
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 Monroe
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 Monroe average
Your land is one point inside Monroe
Everything above resolves to Monroe as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 19K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Ouachita 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 Monroe Average
Monroe Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Monroe
- ●One soil character for all of Monroe
- ●Frost dates read at Monroe's scale: Feb 18 to Nov 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Monroe's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Monroe
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Monroe, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Monroe averages can't show:
We read public map data around Monroe — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Monroe average
How we know this about Monroe
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 Ouachita 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 Monroe
When does frost risk typically end in Monroe?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Monroe typically lands around Feb 18, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Monroe?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Monroe typically arrives around Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 15, so the watching starts about Oct 30 — about 284 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Monroe?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Monroe sees about 284 frost-free days — roughly Feb 18 through Nov 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 11 to Nov 15, about 249 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Monroe?
The federal record around Monroe is a meaningful one — 1,227 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (566), 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 Monroe?
From about Oct 30 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Monroe's scale — its 8b band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Monroe'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 Monroe’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Monroe's own scale — the 19,028 acres it covers and 1,227 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Monroe's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,227 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Monroe, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Monroe's boundary and the 19,028 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Monroe sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Monroe has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Ouachita Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Monroe's 19,028 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ouachita County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ouachita 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 Ouachita County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Monroe's 19,028 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Monroe you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 19,028 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 Monroe-wide figureread your own land →
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