River Bottom, Oklahoma, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in River Bottom, 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 River Bottom 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 River Bottom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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River Bottom — the short answer
River Bottom, Oklahoma: USDA zone 7b, about 242 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~242
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 6K 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 River Bottom's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against River Bottom's 242-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in River Bottom
Each reading below is measured for River Bottom itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRiver Bottom runs about 242 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRiver Bottom 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 River Bottom is in
River Bottom sits in the Central Irregular Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at River Bottom's own centroid rather than borrowed from Muskogee County.
What Grows in River Bottom
Every plant below cleared River Bottom's own zone 7b and its 242-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oklahoma profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in River Bottom?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near River Bottom
Closest first, within ~10 miles of River Bottom. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Braggs ConocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- Braggs Grocery IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- US ARMY NATIONAL GUARD CAMP GRUBERBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- US ARMY NATIONAL GUARD CAMP GRUBERToxics Release Inventory · 3.0 mi
- Braggs Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Liberty Morris Public SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- CUSTOM SEATING / MUSKOGEE FURNITURE MFG FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 4.4 mi
- CUSTOM SEATING / MUSKOGEE FURNITURE MFG FACILITYBrownfields · 4.4 mi
- PENSKE TRUCK LEASING CO L PBrownfields · 4.5 mi
- MUSKOGEEPFAS · 5.0 mi
- AMERICAN FOUNDRY GROUP / AMERICAN ALLOY IIToxics Release Inventory · 5.7 mi
- Gooseneck Bend General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from River Bottom'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 River Bottom.
Total Sites
98
within ~10 miles of River Bottom
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
16 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of River Bottom
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of River Bottom
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around River Bottom, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of River Bottom — Toxics Release Inventory (16 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (63 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in River Bottom
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 River Bottom average
Your land is one point inside River Bottom
Everything above resolves to River Bottom as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 River Bottom Average
River Bottom Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across River Bottom
- ●One soil character for all of River Bottom
- ●Frost dates read at River Bottom's scale: Mar 18 to Nov 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not River Bottom's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in River Bottom
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in River Bottom, Oklahoma — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that River Bottom averages can't show:
We read public map data around River Bottom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the River Bottom average
How we know this about River Bottom
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 River Bottom’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 River Bottom
When does frost risk typically end in River Bottom?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in River Bottom typically lands around Mar 18, 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 Apr 8.
When is the first frost in River Bottom?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in River Bottom typically arrives around Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 1, so the watching starts about Oct 16 — about 242 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in River Bottom?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, River Bottom sees about 242 frost-free days — roughly Mar 18 through Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 8 to Nov 1, about 207 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in River Bottom?
The federal record around River Bottom shows 98 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (63), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in River Bottom?
From about Oct 16 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at River Bottom's scale — its 7b band and its 242-day season. Your yard writes its own version of River Bottom'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 River Bottom’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at River Bottom's own scale — its own ~242-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,989 acres it covers and 98 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- River Bottom's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- River Bottom's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 18 and Nov 15 and the ~242-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 98 documented contamination sites on the federal record near River Bottom, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- River Bottom's boundary and the 5,989 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~242-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at River Bottom's own centroid, the Central Irregular PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so River Bottom's 5,989 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Muskogee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Muskogee County
- The growing challenges every Oklahoma grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oklahoma
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Muskogee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among River Bottom's 5,989 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of River Bottom you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,989 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.4 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 River Bottom-wide figureread your own land →
More in Oklahoma
Wider growing context
What grows across OklahomaRiver Bottom sits outside our named growing regions, so Oklahoma as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides