The Applegate Valley spans USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The Applegate's own floor inside the wider Rogue — Jacksonville, Ruch, and Williams measure a uniform 8b and a 219-237-day season, a warmer band and a longer floor than the two-county Rogue record, in the drier southwest corner the bigger valley's average can't see. Among the crops suited to this profile: kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
The Applegate Valley spans Oregon.
Your yard isn't all of the Applegate Valley.
The Applegate Valley spans USDA zones 8b, but your parcel sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 Applegate Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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The Applegate Valley — the short answer
The Applegate Valley: USDA zones 8b, 219–237 frost-free days, in Oregon.
- USDA zones
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023, aggregated over the footprint
- Frost-free season
- 219–237 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- Towns
- 3
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Region type
- Town cluster
- Growable Ground growing-region registry
Region boundary: Growable Ground growing-region registry — curated county clusters, EPA Level III ecoregions, and town clusters drawn finer than any county. Where a region publishes no measured season, no season figure is shown.
Hardiness Zone Range
What Grows in the Applegate Valley
Plants matched to the Applegate Valley's USDA zones 8b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has across the region — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Native Plants of the Applegate Valley
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in this region’s state, kept only where the published hardiness range meets the Applegate Valley’s USDA zones 8b — closest range match first. Presence is recorded by state, so a plant can be documented across the state and still be scarce in your corner of the region.
The ground around the Applegate Valley
The USDA soil survey maps this ground county by county. These are those records weighted by land area across the two counties containing the Applegate Valley — the ground the Applegate Valley sits in, read at the only grain the survey publishes.
In the counties containing the Applegate Valley, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, at 42% of mapped acres, followed by Alfisols (24%), Mollisols (23%) and Ultisols (7%). Eight soil orders appear in that record, which is the honest reason a regional soil answer only goes so far. The most extensive named soils are Beekman, Vannoy, and McNull.
74% of those acres are well drained, and another 12% moderately well drained, 10% somewhat excessively drained. Topsoil pH runs 6.1–6.6 between the lowest and the highest county on record. 5% of the footprint is classed prime farmland.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Topsoil pH
6.1–6.6
Hydric soils
1%
Soil changes across a driveway, so which of these your own ground sits on is a parcel question rather than a regional one. Jackson County holds the most wetland ground here, at 1% — soil types explained.
USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access
What this means for growing in the Applegate Valley
The soil survey reads this ground county by county, and the readings above are the record for the counties containing the Applegate Valley. Here is what they mean for a garden here — and the move an experienced grower makes about each one.
Drainage
From county records74% of the mapped acres across the counties containing the Applegate Valley are well drained — ground that drains quickly. The survey maps this ground county-wide, so it describes the setting the Applegate Valley sits in rather than the valley floor alone.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
From county recordsTopsoil across the counties containing the Applegate Valley runs pH 6.1–6.6 — near neutral in all two of them.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across the Applegate Valley — and how to grow with it.
Across the 2 counties containing the Applegate Valley the federal record holds 2,530 documented sites, mostly Mining (1,183), Underground Storage Tanks (695) and Nitrate (300). The heaviest single county is Jackson County, with 1,363.
That is the containing counties' count — this region is a smaller piece of that ground, so it is context, not a reading of any one lot. Open the map outlined to the Applegate Valley to see which records sit where you actually grow.
Sources Checked
Summed across the 2 counties containing the Applegate Valley
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around the Applegate Valley, Mining runs higher than the national average — 1,183 sites across the 2 counties containing the Applegate Valley. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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.
Your land is one point inside the Applegate Valley
Everything above resolves to the Applegate Valley as a whole — a footprint spanning USDA zones 8b. Your parcel sits in exactly one of them. 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 region 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 regional average.
Your Lot vs the Applegate Valley Average
Applegate Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Applegate Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Applegate Valley
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Applegate Valley's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in the Applegate Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in the Applegate Valley — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, contamination, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Applegate Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around The Applegate Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Applegate Valley average
How we know this about the Applegate Valley
The boundary: the region's own towns — a footprint finer than any county, because the county average would misread this microclimate. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one, and every figure on this page was measured over the towns inside it rather than borrowed from the state around it.
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, aggregated across the footprint; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each member’s own record; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above; the soil from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, read at each member county’s own record and weighted to this footprint by land area. Where a member carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Common questions about the Applegate Valley
What hardiness zone is the Applegate Valley?
The Applegate Valley spans USDA hardiness zones 8b, aggregated from the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 across the region's own towns. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 data.
How long is the growing season in the Applegate Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, the Applegate Valley's towns mostly run 221 to 230 frost-free days, median 222 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991–2020, over 3 member towns). That 9-day spread is the honest read — no single season describes 3 towns, and each town guide below carries its own.
When does frost risk end in the Applegate Valley?
Across the Applegate Valley, the middle half of member towns see their last 28°F hard freeze between Mar 22 and Mar 30 (median Mar 27), and their first fall freeze between Nov 5 and Nov 8. Those are hard freezes, not the last light frost: tender transplants wait for about Apr 17, and elevation decides which end of a 8-day spread you garden in.
What grows well in the Applegate Valley?
The Applegate Valley's conditions suit plants such as Kale, Douglas Fir, Garlic, Hazelnut, Grape (Pinot Noir), Blueberry. What actually thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage — we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
How is the Applegate Valley defined?
The Applegate Valley is a true microclimate — smaller than the counties that contain it, with a growing reality of its own. So this page is built from the region's own 3 towns, each carrying its own hardiness zone and frost record, rather than from a county average measured somewhere else.
Which states does the Applegate Valley cover?
The Applegate Valley spans Oregon. Each state's full growing guide is linked on this page.
What other growing regions cover the same states?
Pacific Northwest, Columbia Basin, Willamette Valley, Oregon Coast (Maritime Cool-Summer Strip), Columbia Gorge, and Northeast Oregon Mountain Valleys share at least one state with the Applegate Valley. Growing regions overlap and interlock — a single address can sit inside more than one, which is why the precise read is always the parcel, not the region.
What this page reads at the Applegate Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at the Applegate Valley's own scale — the zone 8b band across its footprint, a median 222-day season across its 3 towns and 2,530 documented federal contamination records across its 2 counties, 1,363 of them in Jackson County alone; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- The USDA hardiness band 8b aggregated across all 3 towns in the footprintUSDA PHZM 2023
- The boundary itself — the 3 towns this region is curated fromGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The growing character that makes this region distinct from the states it crossesGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The 28°F season across the footprint — the middle half of its 3 towns run 221 to 230 frost-free days, median 222NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- The federal contamination record over the whole footprint — 2,530 documented federal contamination records across its 2 counties, 1,363 of them in Jackson County aloneEPA, USGS and USDA federal site records
- The soil order mix across the footprint — 42% Inceptisols, topsoil pH 6.1–6.6, area-weighted across its 2 mapped countiesUSDA NRCS SSURGO
Inherited from a wider read
- The candidate plant list — its state's curated sets, merged and filtered to zones 8bfrom Oregon
What this page can’t tell you
- Which end of the 9-day range your ground sits at — 221 days at one extreme, 230 at the other, decided mostly by elevationfrost dates explained →
- Which of those soils your own ground sits on — the survey maps them county-wide, and they change across a drivewaysoil types explained →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on one specific lotwhy one lot differs from the next →
Explore the Applegate Valley
State growing guides
Towns in this region
Counties containing this region
Other growing regions across Oregon
The maritime Northwest west of the Cascade crest — mild, wet winters and dry summers behind berries, tree fruit, and lush cool-season gardens. (Union of the west-side ecoregions.)
A dry basalt plateau of loess soils in the inland Northwest where irrigation turns arid ground into apple, cherry, hop, and wine-grape country.
Oregon's broad maritime valley pairs deep alluvial soils with cool wet winters and dry summers — the heart of the state's hazelnut, berry, and Pinot country.
Unlike the inland Willamette Valley captured by the broad Pacific Northwest region, the Oregon coast runs the opposite constraint: persistent marine fog holds summer heat so low that tomatoes, peppers, melons, and sweet corn rarely ripen — yet the same maritime air delivers a 263–308-day frost-free season (per county_data.json) where brassicas, greens, and other cool-season crops thrive nearly year-round. Curry County's south-coast banana belt around Brookings (zone 9b, the mildest winters in Oregon) anchors the U.S. Easter lily bulb district. Lead a coastal grower to plan for cool-season abundance and short-season or greenhouse strategies for heat-lovers — not the inland valley's frost-limited but heat-rich pattern.
A river canyon cut through the Cascades where wet marine air gives way to high desert in forty miles — pear, cherry, and apple orchards at the west end, vineyards and dryland ground at the east.
Unlike Oregon's mild westside valleys or the arid low Columbia Basin, Northeast Oregon's mountain valleys are a cold, high-elevation growing world — irrigated valley floors above 2,700 feet ringed by the Blue and Wallowa Mountains, where nightly cold-air pooling makes late-spring and early-fall frosts the defining constraint. Expect USDA zone 6b and a short ~150-165 frost-free-day season, a calendar that rewards short-season and cold-hardy crops, season extension, and careful frost timing over anything heat-loving.