Raceland, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Raceland, 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 Raceland 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 Raceland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Raceland — the short answer
Raceland, Louisiana: USDA zone 9b, about 327 days between hard freezes, across 14K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 24
- Lafourche Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 17
- Lafourche Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~327
- Lafourche Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 14K 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 Lafourche Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Raceland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Raceland's 327-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Raceland
Each reading below is measured for Raceland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRaceland runs about 327 days between hard freezes (read from Lafourche Parish, the closest normal to Raceland) — 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
MeasuredRaceland sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Raceland is in
Raceland sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Raceland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lafourche Parish.
What Grows in Raceland
Every plant below cleared Raceland's own zone 9b and its 327-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Raceland?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 17 — 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 Raceland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Raceland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PREDATOR MARINE DESIGN INCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- Rodriquez's ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- RACELAND RAIL FACILITYBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- RACELAND PAINT & BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- Raceland Car Service IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Autin's MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- RANDYS AUTO RPRBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- AMERADA HESS RACELAND FLDBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- MW Petroleum CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Re-Subdivision of Ivy TempletUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Charles Zerinque SrUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Estate of V BrocatoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Raceland'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 Raceland.
Total Sites
495
within ~10 miles of Raceland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Raceland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Raceland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Raceland, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 269 sites within ~10 miles of Raceland. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Raceland
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 Raceland average
Your land is one point inside Raceland
Everything above resolves to Raceland as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 14K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lafourche 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 Raceland Average
Raceland Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Raceland
- ●One soil character for all of Raceland
- ●Frost dates read at Raceland's scale: Jan 24 to Dec 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Raceland's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Raceland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Raceland, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Raceland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Raceland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Raceland average
How we know this about Raceland
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 Lafourche 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 Raceland
When does frost risk typically end in Raceland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Raceland typically lands around Jan 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Raceland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Raceland typically arrives around Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Dec 3, so the watching starts about Nov 17 — about 327 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Raceland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Raceland sees about 327 frost-free days — roughly Jan 24 through Dec 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 14 to Dec 3, about 292 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Raceland?
The federal record around Raceland is a meaningful one — 495 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (269), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 Raceland?
From about Nov 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Raceland's scale — its 9b band and its 327-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Raceland'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 Raceland’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Raceland's own scale — the 13,804 acres it covers and 495 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Raceland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 495 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Raceland, the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Raceland's boundary and the 13,804 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~327-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Raceland's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Raceland has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lafourche Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Raceland's 13,804 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lafourche County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lafourche 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 Lafourche County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Raceland's 13,804 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Raceland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,804 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 Raceland-wide figureread your own land →