Canby, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Canby, 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 Canby 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 Canby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Canby — the short answer
Canby, California: USDA zone 6b, about 139 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~139
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 6b is Canby's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Canby's 139-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Canby
Each reading below is measured for Canby itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCanby runs about 139 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
MeasuredCanby sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Canby is in
Canby sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Canby's own centroid rather than borrowed from Modoc County.
What Grows in Canby
Every plant below cleared Canby's own zone 6b and its 139-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Canby?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 29 — 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 Canby
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Canby. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CANBY FAMILY PRACTICE CLINICBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- 042N010E30N001MNitrate · 1.1 mi
- Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- DEVILS GARDEN RANGER DISTRICTBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- CALTRANS D-02/EA 02-4F77U4Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- MODOC COUNTY-DEPT. PUB. WORKSBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- Unnamed LocationMining · 4.1 mi
- UnknownMining · 4.4 mi
- DSLR LLC DBA SX LOWRY RANCHBrownfields · 6.9 mi
Measured from Canby'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 Canby.
Total Sites
10
within ~10 miles of Canby
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 mining sites (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Canby
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Canby
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Canby
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 Canby average
Your land is one point inside Canby
Everything above resolves to Canby as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Canby Average
Canby Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Canby
- ●One soil character for all of Canby
- ●Frost dates read at Canby's scale: May 13 to Sep 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Canby's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Canby
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Canby, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Canby averages can't show:
We read public map data around Canby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Canby average
How we know this about Canby
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 Canby’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 Canby
When does frost risk typically end in Canby?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Canby typically lands around May 13, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Canby?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Canby typically arrives around Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 15, so the watching starts about Aug 30 — about 139 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Canby?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Canby sees about 139 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 15, about 104 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Canby?
The federal record around Canby is light — 10 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (5), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 gardeners stretch the season in Canby?
With about 139 frost-free days between hard freezes, Canby 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 167 to 195 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Canby's scale — its 6b band and its 139-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Canby'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 Canby’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Canby's own scale — its own ~139-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,472 acres it covers and 10 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Canby's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Canby's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 13 and Sep 29 and the ~139-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 10 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Canby, the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Canby's boundary and the 1,472 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~139-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Canby's own centroid, the Eastern Cascades Slopes and FoothillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Canby's 1,472 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Modoc County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Modoc 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 Modoc County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Canby's 1,472 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Canby you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,472 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 Canby-wide figureread your own land →
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