Astoria, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Astoria, 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 Astoria 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 Astoria — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Astoria — the short answer
Astoria, Oregon: USDA zone 9a, about 263 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 4
- Clatsop County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Clatsop County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~263
- Clatsop County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Clatsop County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Astoria's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Astoria's 263-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Astoria
Each reading below is measured for Astoria itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAstoria runs about 263 days between hard freezes (read from Clatsop County, the closest normal to Astoria) — 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
MeasuredAstoria 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 Astoria is in
Astoria sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Astoria's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clatsop County.
What Grows in Astoria
Plants matched to Astoria'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 Astoria?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Astoria
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Astoria. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BOB'S TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- SHEETS, ROBERT AUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- ASTORIA MINI MART EASTUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- COLUMBIA MEMORIAL HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- ASTORIA PLYWOOD CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- ASTORIA PLYWOOD CORPORATION SITEToxics Release Inventory · 700 ft
- JENSEN COMMUNICATIONS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- UNITED STATES BAKERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- NORTH COAST AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- OSU COSTAL OR MARINE EXPERMT STN ASTORIABrownfields · 1400 ft
- ASTORIA FIRE DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- ASTORIA CITY SHOPSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Astoria'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 Astoria.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Astoria
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Astoria
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Astoria, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Astoria — Superfund (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (110 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Astoria
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 Astoria average
Your land is one point inside Astoria
Everything above resolves to Astoria as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clatsop County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Astoria Average
Astoria Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Astoria
- ●One soil character for all of Astoria
- ●Frost dates read at Astoria's scale: Mar 4 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Astoria's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Astoria
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Astoria, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Astoria averages can't show:
We read public map data around Astoria — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Astoria average
How we know this about Astoria
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Clatsop 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Astoria
When does frost risk typically end in Astoria?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Astoria typically lands around Mar 4, 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 Mar 25.
When is the first frost in Astoria?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Astoria typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 263 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Astoria?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Astoria sees about 263 frost-free days — roughly Mar 4 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 25 to Nov 8, about 228 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Astoria?
The federal record around Astoria is a meaningful one — 163 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (110), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 I protect my plants from frost in Astoria?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Astoria's scale — its 9a band and its 263-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Astoria'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 Astoria’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Astoria's own scale — the 3,910 acres it covers and 163 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Astoria's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 163 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Astoria, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Astoria's boundary and the 3,910 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Astoria's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Astoria has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clatsop County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Astoria's 3,910 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clatsop County
- The candidate plant list — Oregon's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Oregon
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clatsop County
- The growing challenges every Oregon grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oregon
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Clatsop County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Astoria's 3,910 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Astoria you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,910 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Astoria-wide figureread your own land →