Bend, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Bend, 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 Bend 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 Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bend — the short answer
Bend, Oregon: USDA zone 6b, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 23K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 23K 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 Bend's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bend's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bend
Each reading below is measured for Bend itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBend runs about 148 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
MeasuredBend 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 Bend is in
Bend sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Bend's own centroid rather than borrowed from Deschutes County.
What Grows in Bend
Every plant below cleared Bend's own zone 6b and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bend?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 Oct 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Bend
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bend. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARNETT BROS TEXACO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- PACIFIC FRUIT & PRODUCE BLDGUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- 1st STREET CARDLOCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SHERWIN-WILLIAMS #8603Brownfields · 800 ft
- JIM TRAUGHBER MOBIL OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- MURRAY & HOLT MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- BUNDY, WILLIAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- BEND OIL COMPANY PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MURRAY & HOLT MOTORS INCBrownfields · 1000 ft
- FORMER BEND FIRE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CASH HUT, THEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- WALGREENS #15674Brownfields · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bend'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 Bend.
Total Sites
361
within ~10 miles of Bend
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bend
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bend
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bend, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Bend. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Bend
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 Bend average
Your land is one point inside Bend
Everything above resolves to Bend as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 23K 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 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 Bend Average
Bend Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Bend
- ●One soil character for all of Bend
- ●Frost dates read at Bend's scale: May 12 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bend's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bend
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bend, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bend averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bend average
How we know this about Bend
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 Bend’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 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 Bend
When does frost risk typically end in Bend?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bend 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 Bend?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bend typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bend?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bend sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 23, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bend?
The federal record around Bend is a meaningful one — 361 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (183), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 gardeners stretch the season in Bend?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Bend 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 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Bend's scale — its 6b band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bend'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 Bend’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bend's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 22,506 acres it covers and 361 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bend's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bend's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 7 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 361 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bend, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bend's boundary and the 22,506 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bend'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 Bend's 22,506 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Deschutes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Deschutes 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 Deschutes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bend's 22,506 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bend you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 22,506 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bend-wide figureread your own land →