Big Bear City, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Big Bear City, 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 Big Bear City 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 Big Bear City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Big Bear City — the short answer
Big Bear City, California: USDA zone 7b, about 145 days between hard freezes, across 20K 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 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~145
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 20K 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 Big Bear City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Big Bear City's 145-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Big Bear City
Each reading below is measured for Big Bear City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBig Bear City runs about 145 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBig Bear City 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 Big Bear City is in
Big Bear City sits in the Southern California Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Big Bear City's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: San Bernardino County is mostly Mojave Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Big Bear City
Every plant below cleared Big Bear City's own zone 7b and its 145-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Big Bear City?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Big Bear City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Big Bear City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BIG BEAR CITY CSDPFAS · 0 ft
- Gold Hill MineMining · 1100 ft
- DEBRA LANEBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- 002N002E19A009SNitrate · 0.8 mi
- CIMA RD ENTRANCETO MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVEBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- ESKENDR ERKEBAEVBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- 002N002E18L001SNitrate · 1.0 mi
- MOSS BROS INCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- CHUCK OBERSHAW TOYOTABrownfields · 1.1 mi
- BIG BEAR AREA REGIONAL WASTEWATER AGENCYBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- RIFFENBURGH LUMBER COMPANY INCBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- Red JacketMining · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Big Bear City'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 Big Bear City.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Big Bear City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Big Bear City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Big Bear City, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Big Bear City — Mining (14 sites) and Brownfields (114 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Big Bear City
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 Big Bear City average
Your land is one point inside Big Bear City
Everything above resolves to Big Bear City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 20K 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 Big Bear City Average
Big Bear City Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Big Bear City
- ●One soil character for all of Big Bear City
- ●Frost dates read at Big Bear City's scale: May 23 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Big Bear City's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Big Bear City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Big Bear City, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Big Bear City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Big Bear City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Big Bear City average
How we know this about Big Bear City
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 Big Bear City’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 Big Bear City
When does frost risk typically end in Big Bear City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Big Bear City 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 Big Bear City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Big Bear City typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 145 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Big Bear City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Big Bear City sees about 145 frost-free days — roughly May 23 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 13 to Oct 1, about 110 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Big Bear City?
The federal record around Big Bear City is a meaningful one — 187 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (114), the nearest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Big Bear City?
With about 145 frost-free days between hard freezes, Big Bear City rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 173 to 201 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 23 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Big Bear City's scale — its 7b band and its 145-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Big Bear City'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 Big Bear City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Big Bear City's own scale — its own ~145-day season between 28°F freezes, the 20,483 acres it covers and 187 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Big Bear City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Big Bear City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 23 and Oct 15 and the ~145-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 187 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Big Bear City, the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Big Bear City's boundary and the 20,483 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~145-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Big Bear City sits in the Southern California Mountains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Big Bear City's 20,483 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Bernardino County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Bernardino 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 San Bernardino County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Big Bear City's 20,483 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Big Bear City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 20,483 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 Big Bear City-wide figureread your own land →