Wrightwood, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wrightwood, 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 Wrightwood 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 Wrightwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Wrightwood — the short answer
Wrightwood, California: USDA zone 7b, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Wrightwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wrightwood's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wrightwood
Each reading below is measured for Wrightwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWrightwood runs about 175 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
MeasuredWrightwood 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 Wrightwood is in
Wrightwood sits in the Southern California Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Wrightwood'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 Wrightwood
Every plant below cleared Wrightwood's own zone 7b and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wrightwood?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Wrightwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wrightwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO FIRE DEPT HMDBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- WRIGHTWOOD AUTO SERVICE INCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- WRIGHTWOOD DENTISTRYBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- WRIGHTWOOD MARKETBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- WRIGHTWOOD MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- PAUL & SHERRY DINUZZOBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT DEPTBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- CALTRANS DISTRICT 8 WRIGHTWOODBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- 004N007W33J002SNitrate · 3.1 mi
- 004N007W33J004SNitrate · 3.1 mi
- MOUNTAIN HIGH RESORT EASTBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- 004N007W34A001SNitrate · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wrightwood'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 Wrightwood.
Total Sites
102
within ~10 miles of Wrightwood
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wrightwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wrightwood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wrightwood, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 68 sites within ~10 miles of Wrightwood. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Wrightwood
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 Wrightwood average
Your land is one point inside Wrightwood
Everything above resolves to Wrightwood as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Wrightwood Average
Wrightwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Wrightwood
- ●One soil character for all of Wrightwood
- ●Frost dates read at Wrightwood's scale: May 12 to Nov 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wrightwood's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wrightwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wrightwood, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wrightwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wrightwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wrightwood average
How we know this about Wrightwood
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 Wrightwood’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 Wrightwood
When does frost risk typically end in Wrightwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wrightwood typically lands around May 12, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Wrightwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wrightwood typically arrives around Nov 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 20, so the watching starts about Oct 4 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wrightwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wrightwood sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Nov 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Oct 20, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wrightwood?
The federal record around Wrightwood is a meaningful one — 102 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (68), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 Wrightwood?
From about Oct 4 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 Nov 3 (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 Nov 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wrightwood's scale — its 7b band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wrightwood'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 Wrightwood’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wrightwood's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,809 acres it covers and 102 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wrightwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wrightwood's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Nov 3 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 102 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wrightwood, the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wrightwood's boundary and the 3,809 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wrightwood 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 Wrightwood's 3,809 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 Wrightwood's 3,809 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wrightwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,809 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 Wrightwood-wide figureread your own land →