Bend, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit tomato, artichoke, fig, and california poppy — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bend, 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 Bend 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 Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bend — the short answer
Bend, California: USDA zone 9a, about 325 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 22
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 13
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~325
- Tehama County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Tehama County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Bend's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bend's 325-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bend
Each reading below is measured for Bend itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBend runs about 325 days between hard freezes (read from Tehama County, the closest normal to Bend) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBend sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Bend is in
Bend sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Bend's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tehama County.
What Grows in Bend
Plants matched to Bend's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Bend?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Bend
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bend. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 028N003W21Q001MNitrate · 1700 ft
- 028N003W28A001MNitrate · 0.5 mi
- 028N003W29G001MNitrate · 0.7 mi
- 028N003W29K001MNitrate · 0.8 mi
- 028N003W31B001MNitrate · 2.0 mi
- 028N003W31J001MNitrate · 2.7 mi
- 028N003W31J002MNitrate · 2.7 mi
- 027N003W10B001MNitrate · 3.0 mi
- 027N004W01J001MNitrate · 3.4 mi
- 027N004W01H002MNitrate · 3.4 mi
- CALTRANS D2 MAINTENANCE RED BLUFF MSBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- HARLESS LAND LEVELINGBrownfields · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bend'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 Bend.
Total Sites
342
within ~10 miles of Bend
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bend
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bend
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bend, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bend — Nitrate (130 sites) and Brownfields (182 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Bend
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 Bend average
Your land is one point inside Bend
Everything above resolves to Bend as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Tehama County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. 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 Bend Average
Bend Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Bend
- ●One soil character for all of Bend
- ●Frost dates read at Bend's scale: Jan 22 to Dec 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bend's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bend
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bend, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bend averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bend average
How we know this about Bend
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 Tehama County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 Bend
When does frost risk typically end in Bend?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bend typically lands around Jan 22, 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 Feb 12.
When is the first frost in Bend?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bend typically arrives around Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 29, so the watching starts about Nov 13 — about 325 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bend?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bend sees about 325 frost-free days — roughly Jan 22 through Dec 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 12 to Nov 29, about 290 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bend?
The federal record around Bend is a meaningful one — 342 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (182), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Bend?
From about Nov 13 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 Dec 13 (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 Dec 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bend's scale — its 9a band and its 325-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bend'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 Bend’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Bend's own scale — the 1,865 acres it covers and 342 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bend's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 342 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bend, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bend's boundary and the 1,865 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Bend's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bend has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Tehama County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bend's 1,865 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tehama County
- The candidate plant list — California's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom California
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tehama 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 Tehama County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bend's 1,865 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bend you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,865 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Bend-wide figureread your own land →