Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pleasant Hill, 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 Pleasant Hill 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 Pleasant Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pleasant Hill — the short answer
Pleasant Hill, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Sabine Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Sabine Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- Sabine Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Sabine Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Pleasant Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pleasant Hill's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pleasant Hill
Each reading below is measured for Pleasant Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPleasant Hill runs about 288 days between hard freezes (read from Sabine Parish, the closest normal to Pleasant Hill) — 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
MeasuredPleasant Hill 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 Pleasant Hill is in
Pleasant Hill sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Pleasant Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sabine Parish.
What Grows in Pleasant Hill
Every plant below cleared Pleasant Hill's own zone 8b and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pleasant Hill?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Pleasant Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pleasant Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Sa-248Nitrate · 900 ft
- Sa-152Nitrate · 950 ft
- GoldensUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CULLIFORD 3 WHEELERBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Old Exxon Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Ander's ExxonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Laplace Maintenance UnitUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Shell We ServeUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Barnes ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Pleasant Hill TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- King's Gas & Groceries LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Podnas ChevronUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pleasant Hill'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 Pleasant Hill.
Total Sites
113
within ~10 miles of Pleasant Hill
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pleasant Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pleasant Hill
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pleasant Hill, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 84 sites within ~10 miles of Pleasant Hill. 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 Pleasant Hill
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 Pleasant Hill average
Your land is one point inside Pleasant Hill
Everything above resolves to Pleasant Hill as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Sabine 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 Pleasant Hill Average
Pleasant Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Pleasant Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Pleasant Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Pleasant Hill's scale: Feb 17 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pleasant Hill's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pleasant Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pleasant Hill, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pleasant Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pleasant Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pleasant Hill average
How we know this about Pleasant Hill
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 Sabine 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 Pleasant Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Pleasant Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pleasant Hill typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Pleasant Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pleasant Hill typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pleasant Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pleasant Hill sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 18, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pleasant Hill?
The federal record around Pleasant Hill shows 113 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (84), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles 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 Pleasant Hill?
From about Nov 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pleasant Hill's scale — its 8b band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pleasant Hill'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 Pleasant Hill’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Pleasant Hill's own scale — the 1,034 acres it covers and 113 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pleasant Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 113 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pleasant Hill, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pleasant Hill's boundary and the 1,034 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pleasant Hill's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pleasant Hill has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Sabine Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pleasant Hill's 1,034 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sabine County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sabine 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 Sabine County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pleasant Hill's 1,034 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pleasant Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,034 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Pleasant Hill-wide figureread your own land →
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