State guide
Planting zones in Louisiana
Louisiana spans USDA zones 8b to 10a across its 534 ZIP codes, so there is no single zone for the state and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 51% of its ZIP codes are zone 9a; the rest are not.
Your ZIP code
Get the exact answer for your address
Everything above describes Louisiana as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.
Which zone you are in depends where you are
Louisiana covers 4 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the state one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — which is fine for the 51% in zone 9a and wrong for the other 49%. Here is the actual split, by ZIP code.
| Zone | ZIP codes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9a | 275 | 51% | |
| 8b | 147 | 28% | |
| 9b | 106 | 20% | |
| 10a | 6 | 1% |
Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the state's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.
Your freeze dates
Those are the earliest and latest medians among the 93 stations in Louisiana with an ordinary freeze window — not an average, and not one station standing in for the rest. Half of years freeze later than a station's own median.
5 of this state's 98 stations are left out of that range, and saying so matters more than the range itself. 5 sit where the freeze window crosses New Year, so their "first" freeze precedes their "last" and folding them in would be arithmetic on dates that do not sit in order. They are counted, not averaged away.
Your growing season
NOAA publishes a growing-season length for each station, and across the 98 stations in Louisiana it runs 221–357 days . That figure is published, not computed from the two freeze dates — subtracting one from the other gives the wrong answer wherever a season crosses New Year. Mean summer high (June–August) runs 88–95 °F , reaching the 90 °F point where cool-season crops bolt and tomato and pepper pollen fails — so midsummer sowings of lettuce and its relatives are worth holding in the hotter parts of the state.
The ends of each range, named
A range with no station behind it cannot be checked, and Louisiana has too many stations to table them all. So every figure above is reported here with the station standing at each end of it, by name and NOAA ID. No station on this page represents Louisiana — these are its edges, which is a different claim.
| Measure | Earliest / lowest | Station | Latest / highest | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last spring freeze | January 30 | New Orleans INTL AP, LA USW00012916 | March 30 | Homer 1N, LA USC00164355 |
| First fall freeze | November 5 | Calhoun Rsch Stn, LA USC00161411 | December 31 | New Orleans INTL AP, LA USW00012916 |
| Growing season | 221 days | Homer 1N, LA USC00164355 | 357 days | Boothville Asos, LA USW00012884 |
| Mean summer high | 88 °F | Boyce 3 Wnw, LA USC00161232 | 95 °F | Natchitoches, LA USC00166582 |
These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.
When to start seeds in Louisiana
Every spring job for 63 crop dates, counted from this state's own last spring freeze. Each is a range across all 93 stations — the earliest and latest that job falls anywhere in Louisiana — because no one station speaks for a whole state. The ranges are wide on purpose: that width is the state.
| Crop | Job | When | Offset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bok Choy | Start indoors | January 1 – December 31 | 5 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Start indoors | January 1 – December 31 | 8 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Start indoors | January 1 – December 31 | 5 weeks before |
| Peppers | Start indoors | January 1 – December 31 | 8 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Start indoors | January 1 – December 31 | 5 weeks before |
| Arugula | Direct sow | January 2 – March 2 | 4 weeks before |
| Baby Salad Greens | Direct sow | January 2 – March 2 | 4 weeks before |
| Beets | Direct sow | January 2 – March 2 | 4 weeks before |
| Broccoli | Start indoors | January 2 – December 31 | 6 weeks before |
| Cabbage | Start indoors | January 2 – December 31 | 6 weeks before |
| Collards | Start indoors | January 2 – December 31 | 6 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Direct sow | January 2 – March 2 | 4 weeks before |
| Kale | Start indoors | January 2 – December 31 | 6 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Start indoors | January 2 – December 31 | 6 weeks before |
| Mustard Greens | Direct sow | January 2 – March 2 | 4 weeks before |
| Okra | Start indoors | January 2 – March 2 | 4 weeks before |
| Peas | Direct sow | January 2 – December 31 | 6 weeks before |
| Radishes | Direct sow | January 2 – March 2 | 4 weeks before |
| Spinach | Direct sow | January 2 – December 31 | 6 weeks before |
| Sweet Potato | Start indoors | January 2 – December 31 | 6 weeks before |
| Tomatoes | Start indoors | January 2 – December 31 | 6 weeks before |
| Turnips | Direct sow | January 2 – March 2 | 4 weeks before |
| Cabbage | Set out | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Carrots | Direct sow | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Collards | Direct sow | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Collards | Set out | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Cucumbers | Start indoors | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Green Onions | Set out | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Kale | Direct sow | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Kale | Set out | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Direct sow | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Kohlrabi | Set out | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Direct sow | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Pumpkins | Start indoors | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Summer Squash | Start indoors | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Winter Squash | Start indoors | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Zucchini | Start indoors | January 9 – March 9 | 3 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Direct sow | January 16 – March 16 | 2 weeks before |
| Bok Choy | Set out | January 16 – March 16 | 2 weeks before |
| Broccoli | Set out | January 16 – March 16 | 2 weeks before |
| Cilantro | Direct sow | January 16 – March 16 | 2 weeks before |
| Leaf Lettuce | Set out | January 16 – March 16 | 2 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Direct sow | January 16 – March 16 | 2 weeks before |
| Swiss Chard | Set out | January 16 – March 16 | 2 weeks before |
| Dill | Direct sow | January 23 – March 23 | 1 week before |
| Bush Beans | Direct sow | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Cucumbers | Set out | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Pumpkins | Direct sow | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Pumpkins | Set out | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Summer Squash | Direct sow | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Summer Squash | Set out | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Sweet Corn | Direct sow | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Tomatoes | Set out | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Winter Squash | Direct sow | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Winter Squash | Set out | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Zucchini | Direct sow | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Zucchini | Set out | February 6 – April 6 | 1 week after |
| Cucumbers | Direct sow | February 13 – April 13 | 2 weeks after |
| Okra | Direct sow | February 13 – April 13 | 2 weeks after |
| Okra | Set out | February 13 – April 13 | 2 weeks after |
| Peppers | Set out | February 13 – April 13 | 2 weeks after |
| Southern Peas | Direct sow | February 13 – April 13 | 2 weeks after |
| Sweet Potato | Set out | February 13 – April 13 | 2 weeks after |
The week offsets are conventional extension guidance and vary by variety; the freeze dates they are counted from are measured. For a single date rather than a range, run when do I start my seeds? with your own ZIP code.
What survives the winter changes across Louisiana
Of 74 perennial fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and herbs, 54 come through the winter in zone 8b and only 25 in zone 10a. Winter hardiness runs on the zone alone, so each row below is exact for the ZIP codes in it.
| Zone | ZIPs | Survive | Fail for being too warm |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8b | 147 | 54 of 74 | 11 |
| 9a | 275 | 46 of 74 | 25 |
| 9b | 106 | 40 of 74 | 32 |
| 10a | 6 | 25 of 74 | 49 |
The best zone in Louisiana is 8b, which is not its mildest — 10a is. The count peaks in the middle and falls both ways, because the warm end loses plants to insufficient winter chill and summer heat rather than to cold. Most temperate fruit needs a documented number of hours below about 45 °F to break dormancy and set a crop, so an apple fails in a winter that is too warm; currants and rhubarb cook in the heat that comes with it. See the full list with reasons.
Your own ZIP
Work out your own dates
Each of these takes a ZIP code and answers for that ZIP alone, citing the station it used and how far away it is. There is a ZIP box in the header of every page.
- What survives my winter?
Runs on the hardiness zone, so it answers exactly for your ZIP code rather than for Louisiana as a whole — 74 perennial fruits, berries, vegetables and herbs.
- When do I start my seeds?
Dates every spring job from your own last freeze — sow indoors, set out, direct sow.
- When do I sow the next round?
How often each crop is worth re-sowing, and when the next sowing is due.
- What can I still plant?
Counts the growing days left before your first fall freeze, crop by crop.
Metro areas in Louisiana
10 metro areas here have its own page, with the freeze dates from every station serving it, a spring calendar built from those stations, and every ZIP code in it listed with that ZIP code's exact zone and nearest station.
- Baton Rouge, LA Zones 9a–9b
- New Orleans-Metairie, LA Zones 9a–10a
- Shreveport-Bossier City, LA Zone 8b
- Lafayette, LA Zones 9a–9b
- Alexandria, LA Zone 9a
- Lake Charles, LA Zones 9a–9b
- Monroe, LA Zone 8b
- Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Zones 9b–10a
- Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA Zone 9a
- Hammond, LA Zones 8b–9a
Counties in Louisiana
3 countys here have its own page, listing every ZIP code in it with that ZIP code's exact zone and nearest station. These are the smaller places outside the metro areas above — where most of Louisiana's ZIP codes actually are.
- Natchitoches Parish, LA Zones 8b–9a
- Vernon Parish, LA Zone 9a
- Catahoula Parish, LA Zones 8b–9a
Other states to compare
Gear
If you want to act on this
Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.
- Shade clothSummer highs here average 91 °F, at or above the 90 °F point where lettuce and spinach bolt and tomato pollen fails.
- Row cover and frost clothThe season here closes at the first fall freeze dated above — a cover buys back some of those days at the end.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.
Sources
Where these numbers come from
The hardiness zone is the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. The freeze dates, growing seasons and summer highs are NOAA's 1991–2020 Climate Normals, read from every station in Louisiana. Which ZIP codes are in Louisiana comes from the Census ZIP-to-county relation, since a county's federal code begins with its state's. Nothing here is estimated.
This page names no single station for Louisiana on purpose. Picking one to represent a state sounds reasonable and is not — the same reason the metro pages refuse it, only more so at this size. Instead every range names the station at each end, so you can check both without either one being made to speak for the state.