Conditional — Some Areas
fancy yam (zones 10-12) reaches only part of Oregon (5a-10a): zone 10 are in range, so where you are in the state decides it.
One zone short — what would close it
Fancy Yam is hardy to zone 10, and the warmest ground in Oregon is zone 9 — 1 zone short. Planted in open ground it will not survive a Oregon winter. To grow it here, grow fancy yam in a hoop house or unheated greenhouse — its modeled 1.5-zone lift covers this gap.
A hoop house or unheated greenhouse is the lift this needs. How a greenhouse changes what you can grow →
Zone math from 10-12 (plant) against 5-9 (Oregon). Lift modeled by crop_engine.GREENHOUSE_ZONE_MODIFIER_BY_SUBTYPE['hoop_house'] (+1.5 zones) via api/fast_sections.py Unlock Engine v2.
Fancy Yam in Oregon — the short answer
Fancy Yam in Oregon: hardy in zones 10–12, full sun, against a state median of ~213 frost-free days.
- Plant zones
- 10-12
- Manual horticultural correction (source not retained); NC State Extension and Missouri Botanical Garden, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation
- Oregon zones
- 5a-10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Frost window
- Feb 25 - Apr 26 – Oct 19 - Nov 26
- NOAA RCC ACIS 1991-2020, 28°F
- Shortest county season
- 86 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS and university Extension sources — per-field provenance varies and is published with the dataset.
Your yard isn't the whole zone.
Oregon spans zones 5a-10a, but your yard has its own microclimate — slope, trees, and low spots shift frost and sun across a single parcel. Enter your address and we'll score fancy yam against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oregon is not one climate
A single Oregon answer averages 36 counties whose growing seasons are 222 days apart — from 86 frost-free days in Klamath County to 308 in Lincoln County. Which end of that your land sits nearer changes what fancy yam can finish before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 36 counties runs 165–274 days, with a median of 212 days — a 222-day span end to end.
Measured across 36 Oregon counties. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze. Quartiles are order statistics — every figure shown is a value a real county recorded, not an interpolation. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where Fancy Yam Stands in Oregon
Fancy Yam is rated for zones 10–12 — a cold floor USDA puts at 30 to 40°F. No Oregon county sits inside it, so in open ground this is a grown-under-cover plant here rather than a bed plant — which is a statement about Oregon winters, not about fancy yam.
Below the zone 10 floor
36 counties
- Klamath County · zone 6a
- Baker County · zone 6b
- Crook County · zone 6b
3 of 36 shown
Winter cold is the limit here — the same plant works in a container that comes under cover.
County hardiness zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) 2023, per county. A zone is a 10°F band of average annual extreme minimum temperature, so the floor above is the band the plant's rating denotes, not a single measured kill point. Slope, shelter and cold-air drainage routinely move a site half a zone either way from its county figure — which is the part only your address resolves.
Zone Comparison
Fancy Yam Needs
- USDA Zones: 10-12
- Frost-Free Days: 200+
- Sun: Full Sun
- Picking window: ~30 days of harvest
Oregon Has
- USDA Zones: 5a-10a
- Last Hard Freeze (28°F): Feb 25 - Apr 26
- First Hard Freeze (28°F): Oct 19 - Nov 26
- Annual Rainfall: 8-90 inches
- Common Soils: Volcanic, Silt loam (Willamette), Sandy loam
Plant Zone Range (zones 10-12)
Preferred Soil pH
Plant data: Growable Ground Plant Database, compiled from FAO ECOCROP, USDA PLANTS, and university Extension sources — per-field provenance varies and is published with the dataset. State data: USDA ARS PHZM 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NRCS SSURGO.
When to Plant Fancy Yam in Oregon
The frost window
Across Oregon, the last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Feb 25 and Apr 26, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Oct 19 and Nov 26 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Counting from the latest last freeze to the earliest first freeze, that's a 176-day window you can count on — up to 274 days on a mild site in a kind year. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost, so tender transplants usually wait another 2-3 weeks.
Frost tenderness
Fancy Yam is frost-tender — FAO ECOCROP puts its killing temperature at 32°F — so set plants out two to three weeks PAST your local last hard freeze, not on it and not on the state's earliest date. The 28°F marker above is when killing freezes stop, not when light frost does. That is the point where cold damages growing tissue, not a winter-survival floor — an established perennial comes through far colder while dormant, which is what its hardiness zone tells you.
Timing tuned to sub-state frost dates — Klamath County, not the statewide average.
Frost window: NOAA Climate Normals 1991-2020. Plant timing fields: Growable Ground Plant Database — frost-free days from FAO ECOCROP, days to harvest from university Extension production guides, and growing-degree-day and chill-hour minimums that are compilation estimates rather than published figures. Your site's own frost dates can run earlier or later than the state range — a parcel report pins them down.
Growing Season Fit
The zone check says fancy yam survives winter in part of Oregon, not across all of it. Whether the season is long enough — and warm enough — is a different question.
Frost-free days
Fancy Yam wants 200+ frost-free days; a typical Oregon site sees ~213 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). That leaves a tight window — use transplants and pick early-maturing cultivars.
GDD and chill-hour figures are computed from PRISM 1991-2020 monthly climate normals; frost-free days from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. Each is the state median across its counties (P25/P75 span the within-state spread). Hardiness-zone range is USDA PHZM 2023.
Soil + Drainage Fit
Fancy Yam tolerates a wide pH range (pH 4.5-8.5) — 4 units, acid ground through alkaline — so soil acidity is rarely what limits it in Oregon. A soil test is still worth having, but for what else it tells you about this site, not to clear this plant. It will grow across that whole span, but it does best between pH 5.5 and 6.5 — worth knowing before you decide whether a Oregon soil test result is a problem or just a number. Drainage matters: this plant wants well (dry spells). If your Oregon site is heavier clay or sits in a low spot, raised beds or amendment with compost solve it.
Your land, not the state average
Whether fancy yam is safe to eat from Oregon soil is a block-by-block question, not a town-wide one — 21,752 documented contamination sites mean levels spike on some parcels and not the one next door. Fancy Yam roots to about 59 inches, so it is the top 59 inches under your address that decide what it takes up, so only a test on your address settles it.
Check your parcel → Source: USDA NRCS SSURGO + EPA/state contamination databases.
Plant pH requirements: FAO ECOCROP and USDA PLANTS, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. Drainage: FAO ECOCROP, with the remaining rows from other published sources or Growable Ground compilation. Oregon soil profile from USDA NRCS SSURGO. Site-specific verification: a 30-minute soil test from your local Extension lab.
Before you plant fancy yam for food
Anything you grow to eat takes up what is in the ground it grows in, so what is on record near you is worth knowing before fancy yam goes in. What follows is Oregon’s documented federal record at state scale — a screening signal, not a soil test, and not a statement about any one lot.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Oregon — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Oregon — 21,752 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 260 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Oregon carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources Checked
across Oregon
Severity Distribution
across Oregon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oregon, Mining runs higher than the national average — 3,562 sites across Oregon. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What Else to Consider for Fancy Yam in Oregon
Zone compatibility tells you about winter cold survival — but Oregon growers also need to think about:
West side: excessive rain and overcast skies reduce sun for warm-season crops
East side: arid conditions (8-15 inches rainfall) require irrigation
Slug pressure is extreme in western Oregon
Mountain areas have very short seasons (60-90 frost-free days)
Growing fancy yam here specifically
Fancy Yam grows its edible root in the soil itself, so on any of Oregon's 21,752 documented contamination sites it can carry up lead you'd then eat.
Keep fancy yam in raised beds of screened clean soil and confirm your parcel's lead level before the first crop. How to handle it →
What to actually do about these — and the constraints that apply to every Oregon grower, not just fancy yam — is covered on the Oregon growing guide.
Timing shifts within Oregon
Oregon isn't one climate. In Klamath County, the last hard freeze (28°F) holds until about Jun 9 — roughly 67 days later than the recorded state median — so plant fancy yam to your county's window, not the statewide date.
Fancy Yam needs about 200 days of frost-free season to complete its cycle. 22 of Oregon’s 36 counties give it that outright. The tightest that does is Wasco County at 201 frost-free days — 1 to spare. Below that line you are transplanting or extending the season, not direct-sowing.
Across Oregon’s 36 counties the frost-free season runs from 86 days in Klamath County to 308 days in Lincoln County — a spread of 222 days, which is why a single statewide planting date misleads. The median Oregon county sees 213 frost-free days, leaving fancy yam about 13 days of slack on a typical parcel — room for a second sowing where the season runs long.
County last-freeze dates and frost-free day counts: NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991-2020), county 28°F freeze (earlier than the folk 32°F "last frost"). Fancy Yam's 200-day requirement: USDA PLANTS / Growable Ground plant database (minimum frost-free days). A parcel report resolves your address's own frost dates.
Pollinator + Wildlife Value
Fancy Yam draws native bees (low value, Growable Ground Plant Database). Planting it near vegetable beds can lift fruit set on neighboring crops. Outdoors, fancy yam can only work that bloom inside Oregon's frost window — roughly 213 days, opening after the last 28°F freeze (Feb 25 - Apr 26) and closing at the first (Oct 19 - Nov 26), per NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020.
Good to Know Before You Plant Fancy Yam
Fancy Yam is listed as toxic to dogs, cats (all) at a mild level (Cornell). Most listed plants only cause brief upset — a raised bed or a fenced corner usually keeps curious pets clear. Worth knowing for placement: in Oregon this is a one-season plant and the first hard freeze (Oct 19 - Nov 26) takes it down, so the exposure above is a summer-long one rather than something standing in the bed all year.
Oregon Cooperative Extension
For Oregon-specific cultivar recommendations, planting calendars, and pest pressure for fancy yam, the canonical source is OSU Extension Service. Their fact sheets carry the local trial data we can't generalize across 50 states.
Common Questions About Growing Fancy Yam in Oregon
When can I plant Fancy Yam in Oregon?
Oregon's last spring hard freeze (28°F) clears between Feb 25 and Apr 26, and the first fall hard freeze lands between Oct 19 and Nov 26 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Fancy Yam is frost-tender — its killing temperature is 32°F (FAO ECOCROP — the point where cold damages growing tissue, not a winter-survival floor) — so wait two to three weeks past your site's last hard freeze, when light frost has also stopped, before planting out.
What hardiness zone is Fancy Yam grown in across Oregon?
Oregon spans USDA hardiness zones 5a-10a (USDA ARS PHZM 2023). Fancy Yam carries a range of zones 10-12, so the overlap zones are where outdoor growing is most reliable.
How many frost-free days does a typical Oregon site have?
A typical Oregon site sees ~213 frost-free days per year (derived from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020). Fancy Yam needs 200+ frost-free days, so check whether your local microclimate runs above or below the state average before settling on a planting date. In cooler counties like Klamath, the freeze-free season runs shorter than the state average, so verify your own county's window.
How should I amend the soil for Fancy Yam in Oregon?
Fancy Yam tolerates pH 4.5-8.5 and well (dry spells) drainage (FAO ECOCROP). That is a 4-unit span, acid ground through alkaline, so pH is rarely what limits this plant on a Oregon site — amend for drainage and organic matter first.
Will Fancy Yam actually grow on my specific land in Oregon?
State-level zone + climate data is a sketch. A Growable Ground parcel report scores fancy yam against your address's exact soil pH, drainage, sun, and frost-date data drawn from USDA SSURGO, NOAA, and PRISM — not state averages.
Check your specific parcel in Oregon
State-level data is a sketch. Your Growable Ground report scores fancy yam against your parcel's exact soil, sun, drainage, and frost data — not zone averages.
Three things about your lot that Oregon fancy yam averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oregon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oregon fancy yam average
Explore More
Growing guides for fancy yam
Explore Oregon county by county
Oregon carries 36 counties with their own USDA zone — a sample of the growing pages for fancy yam there:
Where else fancy yam grows
Fancy Yam's zone band crosses state lines — these are the states closest to Oregon in winter climate where it also has a page, plus the far ends of its range. Each one re-answers the question with that state's own record.
More to grow in Oregon
Oregon has a growing page for 1,038 plants — a rotating sample of the rest of the shelf.
Analysis by the Growable Ground research team, grounded in USDA PLANTS, USDA NRCS SSURGO, NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020), and named Cooperative Extension sources. How we know →
Cite this dataset
Kirchick, M. (2026). Growable Ground Plant Database [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21435643
Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21435643
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