Oberlin, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Oberlin, 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 Oberlin 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 Oberlin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oberlin — the short answer
Oberlin, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 305 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 6
- Allen Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Allen Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~305
- Allen 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 Allen Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Oberlin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oberlin's 305-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oberlin
Each reading below is measured for Oberlin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOberlin runs about 305 days between hard freezes (read from Allen Parish, the closest normal to Oberlin) — 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
MeasuredOberlin 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 Oberlin is in
Oberlin sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Oberlin's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Allen Parish is mostly South Central Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Oberlin
Every plant below cleared Oberlin's own zone 9a and its 305-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oberlin?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — 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 Oberlin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oberlin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- YOUNGS RPR SHOPBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Pearl's Kwik StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ALLEN PARISH SCHOOL BOARDBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- Ardoin Oil Co of OberlinUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Carol's Super MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL 8250Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- Al-243Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- Al-141Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- Al-31Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- LADOTD - Oberlin Maintenance UnitUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- LADOTD - SP 014-03-0032Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Time Loop LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oberlin'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 Oberlin.
Total Sites
180
within ~10 miles of Oberlin
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oberlin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oberlin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oberlin, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 86 sites within ~10 miles of Oberlin. 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 Oberlin
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 Oberlin average
Your land is one point inside Oberlin
Everything above resolves to Oberlin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Allen 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 Oberlin Average
Oberlin Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Oberlin
- ●One soil character for all of Oberlin
- ●Frost dates read at Oberlin's scale: Feb 6 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oberlin's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oberlin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oberlin, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oberlin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oberlin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oberlin average
How we know this about Oberlin
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 Allen 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 Oberlin
When does frost risk typically end in Oberlin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oberlin typically lands around Feb 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Oberlin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oberlin typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 305 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oberlin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oberlin sees about 305 frost-free days — roughly Feb 6 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 27 to Nov 24, about 270 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oberlin?
The federal record around Oberlin is a meaningful one — 180 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (86), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Oberlin?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Oberlin's scale — its 9a band and its 305-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oberlin'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 Oberlin’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Oberlin's own scale — the 2,804 acres it covers and 180 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oberlin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 180 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oberlin, the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oberlin's boundary and the 2,804 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~305-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Oberlin sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Oberlin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Allen Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oberlin's 2,804 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Allen County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Allen 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 Allen County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oberlin's 2,804 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oberlin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,804 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Oberlin-wide figureread your own land →
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