Shenandoah, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Shenandoah, 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 Shenandoah 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 Shenandoah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Shenandoah — the short answer
Shenandoah, Louisiana: USDA zone 9a, about 300 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 7
- East Baton Rouge Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 4
- East Baton Rouge Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~300
- East Baton Rouge Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 East Baton Rouge Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Shenandoah's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Shenandoah's 300-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Shenandoah
Each reading below is measured for Shenandoah itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsShenandoah runs about 300 days between hard freezes (read from East Baton Rouge Parish, the closest normal to Shenandoah) — 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
MeasuredShenandoah 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 Shenandoah is in
Shenandoah sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Shenandoah's own centroid rather than borrowed from East Baton Rouge Parish.
What Grows in Shenandoah
Every plant below cleared Shenandoah'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 Shenandoah?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 4 — 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 Shenandoah
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Shenandoah. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DON KRAFT INCBrownfields · 1900 ft
- Circle K #9723Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- RITE AID PHARMACY #7384Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- EAGLE CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- EB-879Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- Shenandoah Country ClubUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SHENANDOAH COUNTRY CLUBBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Circle K #9729Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ALBERTSON'S #2713Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- Circle K #8062Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ROYALE CLEANERS INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- JONES CREEK ANIMAL HOSPBrownfields · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Shenandoah'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 Shenandoah.
Total Sites
2,666
within ~10 miles of Shenandoah
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Shenandoah
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Shenandoah
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Shenandoah, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 1,501 sites within ~10 miles of Shenandoah. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Shenandoah
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 Shenandoah average
Your land is one point inside Shenandoah
Everything above resolves to Shenandoah as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from East Baton Rouge 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 Shenandoah Average
Shenandoah Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Shenandoah
- ●One soil character for all of Shenandoah
- ●Frost dates read at Shenandoah's scale: Feb 7 to Dec 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Shenandoah's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Shenandoah
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Shenandoah, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Shenandoah averages can't show:
We read public map data around Shenandoah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Shenandoah average
How we know this about Shenandoah
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 East Baton Rouge 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 Shenandoah
When does frost risk typically end in Shenandoah?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Shenandoah typically lands around Feb 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Shenandoah?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Shenandoah typically arrives around Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 20, so the watching starts about Nov 4 — about 300 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Shenandoah?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Shenandoah sees about 300 frost-free days — roughly Feb 7 through Dec 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 28 to Nov 20, about 265 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Shenandoah?
The federal record around Shenandoah is a meaningful one — 2,666 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (1,501), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Shenandoah?
From about Nov 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Shenandoah's scale — its 9a band and its 300-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Shenandoah'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 Shenandoah’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Shenandoah's own scale — the 3,967 acres it covers and 2,666 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Shenandoah's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,666 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Shenandoah, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Shenandoah's boundary and the 3,967 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 Shenandoah's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Shenandoah has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom East Baton Rouge Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Shenandoah's 3,967 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom East Baton Rouge County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom East Baton Rouge 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 East Baton Rouge County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Shenandoah's 3,967 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Shenandoah you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,967 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Shenandoah-wide figureread your own land →
More in Louisiana
Wider growing context
What grows across LouisianaShenandoah sits outside our named growing regions, so Louisiana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides