Roanoke, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Roanoke, 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 Roanoke 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 Roanoke — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Roanoke — the short answer
Roanoke, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 313 days between hard freezes, across 274 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 30
- Jefferson Davis Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 9
- Jefferson Davis Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~313
- Jefferson Davis Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 274 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 Jefferson Davis Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Roanoke's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Roanoke's 313-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Roanoke
Each reading below is measured for Roanoke itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRoanoke runs about 313 days between hard freezes (read from Jefferson Davis Parish, the closest normal to Roanoke) — 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
MeasuredRoanoke 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 Roanoke is in
Roanoke sits in the Western Gulf Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Roanoke's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson Davis Parish.
What Grows in Roanoke
Every plant below cleared Roanoke's own zone 9a and its 313-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Roanoke?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 9 — 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 Roanoke
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Roanoke. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GAS COMPRESSION SVCS INCBrownfields · 800 ft
- Roanoke Fast StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Roanoke WarehouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Abell Farm Power IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Roanoke Machine ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- JD-210Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- Peto's I-10 LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- METALPLATE GALVANIZING, L.P.Toxics Release Inventory · 2.0 mi
- METALPLATE GALVANIZING, L.P.Brownfields · 2.0 mi
- JD-5980ZNitrate · 2.2 mi
- AGRILLANCE RETAIL AGRONOMY SOLUTIONSBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- JD-6021ZNitrate · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Roanoke'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 Roanoke.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Roanoke
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Roanoke
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Roanoke, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Roanoke. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Roanoke
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 Roanoke average
Your land is one point inside Roanoke
Everything above resolves to Roanoke as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 274 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Jefferson Davis 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 Roanoke Average
Roanoke Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Roanoke
- ●One soil character for all of Roanoke
- ●Frost dates read at Roanoke's scale: Jan 30 to Dec 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Roanoke's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Roanoke
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Roanoke, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Roanoke averages can't show:
We read public map data around Roanoke — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Roanoke average
How we know this about Roanoke
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 Jefferson Davis 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 Roanoke
When does frost risk typically end in Roanoke?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Roanoke typically lands around Jan 30, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Roanoke?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Roanoke typically arrives around Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 25, so the watching starts about Nov 9 — about 313 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Roanoke?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Roanoke sees about 313 frost-free days — roughly Jan 30 through Dec 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 20 to Nov 25, about 278 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Roanoke?
The federal record around Roanoke is a meaningful one — 290 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (138), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Roanoke?
From about Nov 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Roanoke's scale — its 9a band and its 313-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Roanoke'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 Roanoke’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Roanoke's own scale — the 274 acres it covers and 290 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Roanoke's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 290 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Roanoke, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Roanoke's boundary and the 274 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~313-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Roanoke's own centroid, the Western Gulf Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Roanoke has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Jefferson Davis Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Roanoke's 274 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson Davis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson Davis 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 Jefferson Davis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Roanoke's 274 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Roanoke you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 274 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Roanoke-wide figureread your own land →
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