Pearl River, 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.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pearl River, 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 Pearl River 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 Pearl River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pearl River — the short answer
Pearl River, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 300 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- St. Tammany Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- St. Tammany Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~300
- St. Tammany Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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. Tammany Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Pearl River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pearl River's 300-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pearl River
Each reading below is measured for Pearl River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPearl River runs about 300 days between hard freezes (read from St. Tammany Parish, the closest normal to Pearl River) — 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
MeasuredPearl River 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 Pearl River is in
Pearl River sits in the Southern Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Pearl River's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Tammany Parish.
What Grows in Pearl River
Every plant below cleared Pearl River's own zone 9a and its 300-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pearl River?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — 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 Pearl River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pearl River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MAGNOLIA CLEANERSBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Old TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Theresa ZechenellyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Pearl River Gas & Shop IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- PEARL RIVER JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1800 ft
- ADD/ CROCO INCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- St Joe Maintenance UnitUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- PEARL RIVER HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 2300 ft
- DEANS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL 9453Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- Frankies Chicken Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Riverside Travel CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pearl River'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 Pearl River.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pearl River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pearl River
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pearl River, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Pearl River — PFAS (9 sites) and Brownfields (369 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Pearl River
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 Pearl River average
Your land is one point inside Pearl River
Everything above resolves to Pearl River as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from St. Tammany 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 Pearl River Average
Pearl River Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Pearl River
- ●One soil character for all of Pearl River
- ●Frost dates read at Pearl River's scale: Feb 8 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pearl River's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pearl River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pearl River, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pearl River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pearl River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pearl River average
How we know this about Pearl River
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. Tammany 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 Pearl River
When does frost risk typically end in Pearl River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pearl River typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Pearl River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pearl River typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 300 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pearl River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pearl River sees about 300 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 21, about 265 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pearl River?
The federal record around Pearl River runs heavier than most — 649 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (369), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Pearl River?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pearl River's scale — its 9a band and its 300-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pearl River'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 Pearl River’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Pearl River's own scale — the 2,389 acres it covers and 649 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pearl River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 649 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pearl River, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pearl River's boundary and the 2,389 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~300-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pearl River's own centroid, the Southern Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pearl River has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom St. Tammany Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pearl River's 2,389 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Tammany County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Tammany 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. Tammany County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pearl River's 2,389 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pearl River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,389 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 Pearl River-wide figureread your own land →
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