Vivian, Louisiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Vivian, 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 Vivian 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 Vivian — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Vivian — the short answer
Vivian, Louisiana: USDA zone 8b, about 289 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Caddo Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Caddo Parish normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~289
- Caddo 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 Caddo Parish’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Vivian's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Vivian's 289-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Vivian
Each reading below is measured for Vivian itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsVivian runs about 289 days between hard freezes (read from Caddo Parish, the closest normal to Vivian) — 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
MeasuredVivian 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 Vivian is in
Vivian sits in the South Central Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Vivian's own centroid rather than borrowed from Caddo Parish.
What Grows in Vivian
Every plant below cleared Vivian's own zone 8b and its 289-day season. Each card opens that plant's Louisiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Vivian?
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 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (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. 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 Vivian
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Vivian. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EZ Mart #4203Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Texaco Self ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- PEACOCK CLEANERSBrownfields · 700 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #2546Brownfields · 850 ft
- Caddoan Telephone CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Brand Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Cd-210Nitrate · 1100 ft
- Cd-375Nitrate · 1200 ft
- NORTH CADDO MEDICAL CENTERBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Parker OilUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Cd-212Nitrate · 2000 ft
- Cd-505Nitrate · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Vivian'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 Vivian.
Total Sites
244
within ~10 miles of Vivian
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Vivian
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Vivian
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Vivian, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 94 sites within ~10 miles of Vivian. 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 Vivian
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 Vivian average
Your land is one point inside Vivian
Everything above resolves to Vivian as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Caddo 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 Vivian Average
Vivian Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Vivian
- ●One soil character for all of Vivian
- ●Frost dates read at Vivian's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Vivian's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Vivian
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Vivian, Louisiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Vivian averages can't show:
We read public map data around Vivian — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Vivian average
How we know this about Vivian
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 Caddo 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 Vivian
When does frost risk typically end in Vivian?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Vivian typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Vivian?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Vivian 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 289 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Vivian?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Vivian sees about 289 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 18, about 254 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Vivian?
The federal record around Vivian is a meaningful one — 244 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (103), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Vivian?
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 Vivian's scale — its 8b band and its 289-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Vivian'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 Vivian’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Vivian's own scale — the 3,531 acres it covers and 244 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Vivian's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 244 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Vivian, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Vivian's boundary and the 3,531 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~289-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Vivian's own centroid, the South Central PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Vivian has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Caddo Parish
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Vivian's 3,531 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Caddo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Caddo 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 Caddo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Vivian's 3,531 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Vivian you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,531 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Vivian-wide figureread your own land →
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