Palmetto, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Palmetto, 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 Palmetto 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 Palmetto — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Palmetto — the short answer
Palmetto, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 306 days between hard freezes, across 568 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- St. Landry Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- St. Landry Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~306
- St. Landry Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 568 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 St. Landry Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Palmetto's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Palmetto's 306-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Palmetto
Each reading below is measured for Palmetto itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPalmetto runs about 306 days between hard freezes (read from St. Landry Parish, the closest normal to Palmetto) — 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
MeasuredPalmetto 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 Palmetto is in
Palmetto sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Palmetto's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Landry Parish.
What Grows in Palmetto
Every plant below cleared Palmetto's own zone 9a and its 306-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Palmetto?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 3 (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. 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 Palmetto
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Palmetto. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Peoples Moss Gin Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- SL-34Nitrate · 950 ft
- Eugene L DauzatUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Harry Bihm's Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Hardy's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Moncrief FieldUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Rideau GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- SL-214Nitrate · 2.9 mi
- Cargill FisheryUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- Boudreaus Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- PBI - BOBCAT M&R 40403 40404 TRANSCOBrownfields · 3.7 mi
- Boudreaux's Store IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Palmetto'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 Palmetto.
Total Sites
82
within ~10 miles of Palmetto
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Palmetto
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Palmetto
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Palmetto, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 44 sites within ~10 miles of Palmetto. 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 Palmetto
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 Palmetto average
Your land is one point inside Palmetto
Everything above resolves to Palmetto as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 568 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from St. Landry 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 Palmetto Average
Palmetto Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Palmetto
- ●One soil character for all of Palmetto
- ●Frost dates read at Palmetto's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Palmetto's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Palmetto
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Palmetto, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Palmetto averages can't show:
We read public map data around Palmetto — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Palmetto average
How we know this about Palmetto
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 St. Landry 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 Palmetto
When does frost risk typically end in Palmetto?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Palmetto typically lands around Feb 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Palmetto?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Palmetto 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 306 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Palmetto?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Palmetto sees about 306 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 22, about 271 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Palmetto?
The federal record around Palmetto shows 82 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (44), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Palmetto?
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 Palmetto's scale — its 9a band and its 306-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Palmetto'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 Palmetto’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Palmetto's own scale — the 568 acres it covers and 82 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Palmetto's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 82 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Palmetto, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Palmetto's boundary and the 568 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~306-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Palmetto's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Palmetto has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom St. Landry Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Palmetto's 568 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Landry County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Landry 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 St. Landry County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Palmetto's 568 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Palmetto you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 568 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 Palmetto-wide figureread your own land →