Grow the cool-season Asian greens (bok choy, tatsoi, mizuna, komatsuna, mustards) from fall through winter, and hand summer to heat-lovers like amaranth and Malabar spinach. That split is the whole decision in south Louisiana, where frost barely matters and heat does. The sections below cover why, what fails, how the state varies, and where to confirm it for your parish.
The short answer for Louisiana
The Best Asian Greens for Louisiana depend on the season. Cool-season types win from fall into early spring, and a short list of tropical greens carries the summer. The numbers explain the split.
At the New Orleans reference station, the NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals put the last spring frost between January 18 and February 8, and the first fall frost between December 17 and January 8. Those dates are not a promise. They bracket the stretch when a 32F freeze is somewhere between 30 and 70 percent likely. A freeze occurs in only 86.8 percent of years at this station, so roughly one year in seven has no freeze at all. The fall window even straddles the New Year.
That is why this page does not hang on frost. The mean daily minimum of the coldest month is 46.1F. Winter here is mild enough that brassica greens keep growing through it, and summer is the season that shuts them down.
Decision by type
| Type | Best season here | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Bok choy, tatsoi | Fall through winter | Fast and tender. Bolts as soon as spring warms up. |
| Mizuna, mustard greens, komatsuna | Fall through early spring | The most forgiving group. Mustards are the quickest to turn sharp and bitter in warm weather. |
| Napa cabbage, Chinese broccoli | Fall into winter | Slower. Needs the long cool stretch to finish well. |
| Amaranth, Malabar spinach | Summer | Thrives in the heat that wrecks everything above. |
| Water spinach | Summer | Loves heat and moisture, dies at the first freeze. Restricted in some states, so ask extension before ordering seed. |
For month-by-month sowing, see When to Sow Asian Greens in Louisiana. For the broader picture, start with Growing Asian Greens in Louisiana.
What will not work here
Waiting for the last frost to sow is the first mistake. Northern advice says to plant after frost danger passes. Here that date lands between January 18 and February 8, and by then the cool-season window is already closing. Gardeners who treat it as a starting gun end up sowing bok choy into weather that is about to bolt it.
Spring sowing of cool-season heading types
Napa cabbage and other slower types need weeks of steady cool weather to form a tight head. A late-winter sowing in Louisiana often gets a warm spell partway through, and the plant skips heading and sends up a flower stalk. Bok choy and tatsoi do better, but only if they mature before the first stretch of real warmth. A sowing that misses that window gives you stalks and bitter leaves.
Close spacing in a humid climate
Louisiana air holds moisture for most of the year, and that punishes crowding. Dense rows of mizuna or baby bok choy stay wet after rain, which invites leaf spots, rot, and slugs. Thin earlier and wider than a seed packet suggests, and water the soil rather than the leaves. This matters more here than in a dry state, where tight spacing is a trick for shading out weeds.
Tropical greens in winter, and leaning on frost to reset pests
Water spinach, amaranth, and Malabar spinach are for summer only. Plant them in a cold snap and a single freeze ends the experiment. The reverse trap is pests. Gardeners farther north count on a hard freeze to knock back flea beetles, aphids, and cabbage worms. At the reference station roughly one year in seven has no freeze, and in the other years the freezes are short. Insects carry through the winter, so floating row cover pays off even in the cool season.
The common thread: a plan built for a short, cold season fails here, because the real constraint is the long hot one.
What changes across Louisiana
Louisiana is not one garden. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (2023 edition, built on 1991-2020 normals) places the state in zones 8a to 10a. That zone system rests on one variable only, the average annual extreme minimum temperature, so it says how cold the worst night gets and nothing about summer heat or rainfall. With several zones inside the state, there is no single answer, and the dates above belong to the New Orleans reference station, not to every parish.
The frost facts on this page cover that one station. This page does not have frost dates for north Louisiana, so none are given. What the data does say is that north Louisiana freezes far more reliably than the coast. A northern gardener should expect the opposite of the one-year-in-seven no-freeze story: freezes arrive earlier in fall, linger later in spring, and tropical greens like water spinach stop sooner. Cool-season greens in the north are more likely to need a cover on the hardest nights, while the South can often get by with a lighter touch.
Summer heat, though, still dominates across the state. A reader in the north does not get a reprieve from bolting, only a different calendar around it. Louisiana also has no mountains to speak of, so altitude is not the lever it is elsewhere. Latitude and distance from the Gulf do the work.
To find your own zone, use the USDA map and look up your location directly. Do not borrow a neighbor’s number or a distant city’s. Then read the planting calendar with that in mind: earlier sowing in the south of the state, a tighter fall window in the north.
Where to check this for your own county
Louisiana runs on parishes, not counties, but the principle is the same. Your state extension service is the next stop, and for Louisiana that is the LSU AgCenter. Its parish offices work with local soils, rainfall, and pests every season.
Look for two things there. The first is a local planting calendar for vegetables, which will state sowing windows for cool-season greens in your part of the state. The second is a list of varieties that have been trialled in your region, since a variety that performs well under a trial’s heat and humidity is worth more than any catalog description. This page does not cite a specific LSU AgCenter publication, so ask the parish office which documents currently apply.
Be clear about what this page is. It is the state-level view, and it rests on one reference station in the south of the state. A parish recommendation beats a state one, every time. If the extension office says to sow two weeks later than this page implies, follow the extension office. It knows your soil, your drainage, and the local pest pressure, none of which this article can see.
Checking this against your own garden
Every date here is a probability. Your yard produces its own evidence, and it outranks the calendar. Three things are worth watching, and none needs an instrument.
- Soil warmth by feel. Push your hand into the bed in the morning. If it still feels cool and slightly damp, cool-season seed will germinate evenly. If it feels warm like a car seat, you are past the window. A bed beside a south-facing wall warms sooner than one in the open, which tells you where tropical greens will start fastest.
- The first male flowers on squash or cucumbers. Those early male blooms tell you the heat has settled in for real. When they show up, expect bok choy and tatsoi to bolt within days, and start the summer greens.
- The first true leaves. The seed leaves look like little ovals, and the true leaves follow with the shape of the mature plant. If seedlings reach that stage and hold steady, the spot is working. If they stall or stretch, the bed is too warm, too shaded, or too wet.
Keep a few notes from one season to the next. After a year or two you will know the shift between your yard and the reference station better than any table does.
Common questions
Can I grow bok choy in a Louisiana summer?
Not reliably. Bok choy and tatsoi bolt when heat arrives, so sow them in fall for winter harvest. For summer, use amaranth, Malabar spinach, or water spinach, checking local rules on the last one.
Do I need to wait for the last frost before sowing?
No. At the New Orleans reference station the last spring frost falls between January 18 and February 8, and cool-season greens are already running by then. Soil warmth and your own sowing window matter more than that date.
Will Asian greens survive a Louisiana winter?
The hardy types usually do. The mean daily minimum of the coldest month is 46.1F at the reference station, and a 32F freeze occurs in 86.8 percent of years there. Frost-tender greens like water spinach do not survive a freeze.
Is there one best Asian green for the whole state?
No. In the cool season, mizuna, mustards, and komatsuna are the most forgiving. In summer, amaranth and Malabar spinach take over. North Louisiana freezes far more reliably than the south, so your parish extension office should settle the final dates.