Bear Valley, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Bear Valley, 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 Bear Valley 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 Bear Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bear Valley — the short answer
Bear Valley, California: USDA zone 7b, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 7b is Bear Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bear Valley's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bear Valley
Each reading below is measured for Bear Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBear Valley runs about 151 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBear Valley sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Bear Valley is in
Bear Valley sits in the Sierra Nevada — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Bear Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Alpine County.
What Grows in Bear Valley
Every plant below cleared Bear Valley's own zone 7b and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bear Valley?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Bear Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bear Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PACIFIC BELL C/O ALLEN UE197Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- AT&T California - UE197Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BEAR VALLEY WATER DISTRICTBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Bear Valley LodgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BASE CAMP INVESTORS, LLCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- BEAR VALLEY SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- Bear Valley MaintenanceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- SKYLINE BEAR VALLEY RESORTS INCBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- DOHS-ALPINE CO.Brownfields · 2.4 mi
- CAL TRANSBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- Northern California Power Agency Spicer Power HouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
Measured from Bear Valley'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 Bear Valley.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bear Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Bear Valley
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 Bear Valley average
Your land is one point inside Bear Valley
Everything above resolves to Bear Valley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K acres. 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 Bear Valley Average
Bear Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Bear Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Bear Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Bear Valley's scale: May 23 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bear Valley's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bear Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bear Valley, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bear Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bear Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bear Valley average
How we know this about Bear Valley
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 Bear Valley’s own record; 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 Bear Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Bear Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bear Valley typically lands around May 23, 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 Jun 13.
When is the first frost in Bear Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bear Valley typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bear Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bear Valley sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 23 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 13 to Oct 7, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bear Valley?
The federal record around Bear Valley is light — 12 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (8), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Bear Valley?
From about Sep 21 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 Oct 21 (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 Oct 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bear Valley's scale — its 7b band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bear Valley'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 Bear Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bear Valley's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,300 acres it covers and 12 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bear Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bear Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 23 and Oct 21 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 12 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bear Valley, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bear Valley's boundary and the 3,300 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bear Valley's own centroid, the Sierra NevadaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bear Valley's 3,300 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Alpine County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Alpine County
- The growing challenges every California grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom California
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Alpine County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bear Valley's 3,300 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bear Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,300 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles 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 Bear Valley-wide figureread your own land →