Coos Bay, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Coos Bay, 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 Coos Bay 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 Coos Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Coos Bay — the short answer
Coos Bay, Oregon: USDA zone 9b, about 292 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Coos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Coos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~292
- Coos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Coos County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Coos Bay's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Coos Bay's 292-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Coos Bay
Each reading below is measured for Coos Bay itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCoos Bay runs about 292 days between hard freezes (read from Coos County, the closest normal to Coos Bay) — 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
MeasuredCoos Bay sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Coos Bay is in
Coos Bay sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Coos Bay's own centroid rather than borrowed from Coos County.
What Grows in Coos Bay
Plants matched to Coos Bay's USDA zones 9b, 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 Coos Bay?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Coos Bay
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Coos Bay. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WASTEWATER PUMP STATION #5Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- OCEAN BOULEVARD SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- BAY AREA HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- BAY AREA HEALTH DISTRICT DBA BAY AREA HOSPITALBrownfields · 1700 ft
- PONY CREEK WATER TREATMENT PLANTBrownfields · 1900 ft
- COOS BAY-NORTH BEND WATER BOARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- VERGER CHRYSLER DODGE JEEP, INCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- BAUGHMAN AND SON INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- STEVEDORING SERVICES OF AMERICAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- UNOCALUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CONOCOPHILLIPS COMPANYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- PAPE BROTHERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Coos Bay'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 Coos Bay.
Total Sites
281
within ~10 miles of Coos Bay
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Coos Bay
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Coos Bay
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Coos Bay, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Coos Bay — Mining (22 sites) and Superfund (4 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Coos Bay
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 Coos Bay average
Your land is one point inside Coos Bay
Everything above resolves to Coos Bay as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Coos 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 Coos Bay Average
Coos Bay Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Coos Bay
- ●One soil character for all of Coos Bay
- ●Frost dates read at Coos Bay's scale: Feb 8 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Coos Bay's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Coos Bay
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Coos Bay, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Coos Bay averages can't show:
We read public map data around Coos Bay — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Coos Bay average
How we know this about Coos Bay
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 Coos 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 Coos Bay
When does frost risk typically end in Coos Bay?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Coos Bay typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Coos Bay?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Coos Bay typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 292 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Coos Bay?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Coos Bay sees about 292 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 13, about 257 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Coos Bay?
The federal record around Coos Bay is a meaningful one — 281 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (170), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Coos Bay?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Coos Bay's scale — its 9b band and its 292-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Coos Bay'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 Coos Bay’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Coos Bay's own scale — the 6,803 acres it covers and 281 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Coos Bay's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 281 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Coos Bay, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Coos Bay's boundary and the 6,803 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Coos Bay's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Coos Bay has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Coos County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Coos Bay's 6,803 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Coos 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 Coos 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 Coos County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Coos Bay's 6,803 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Coos Bay you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,803 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Coos Bay-wide figureread your own land →