Wheeler County, in Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Wheeler County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Wheeler County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Wheeler County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Wheeler County — the short answer
Wheeler County, Oregon: USDA zone 7a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 1.1M acres.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 1.1M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 7a is Wheeler County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wheeler County's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Wheeler County
Across a year, Wheeler County accumulates about 1,961 growing degree days above 50°F, about 109 more than the middle Oregon county — ahead of 22 of Oregon’s 36 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Wheeler County
Detailed USDA soil-survey (SSURGO) mapping is limited across Wheeler County, so there isn't a reliable county-wide soil summary to show here yet — a gap in the national survey, not in the ground itself.
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wheeler County
Each reading below is measured for Wheeler County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWheeler County runs about 186 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
MeasuredWheeler County sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Wheeler County is in
Wheeler County sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Wheeler County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Wheeler County's own USDA zone 7a and its own 186-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile.
Is it too late to plant in Wheeler County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — 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.
Documented around Wheeler County
- monarch butterfly7 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Wheeler County
USGS estimates 4,118 lb of Glyphosate on Wheeler County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Triclopyr (632 lb) and Chlorpyrifos (487 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Wheeler County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Wheeler County — 50 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 24 mining sites. Historic and active mines that may leach heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and cadmium.
The federal record across Wheeler County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Wheeler County
Closest first, across Wheeler County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RICK PAUL RANCH - FEEDLOTCAFO · 9.4 mi
- ODOT SPRAY # 2Underground Storage Tanks · 12.3 mi
- ODOT MITCHELL MAINT STABrownfields · 13.1 mi
- SPRAY GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.1 mi
- LITTLE PINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.2 mi
- SCHNEE'S GROCERY & SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.2 mi
- SPRAY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.2 mi
- TELEPHONE UTILITIES OF EASTERN OREGONUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.2 mi
- MITCHELL TD-2 MTCHORQ5730Underground Storage Tanks · 13.2 mi
- CANNON'S TIRE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.2 mi
- OR STATE HWY 4-10 MITCHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.2 mi
- MITCHELL SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 13.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wheeler County'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 Wheeler County.
Sources Checked
across Wheeler County
Severity Distribution
across Wheeler County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wheeler County, Mining runs higher than the national average — 24 sites across Wheeler County. 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.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Wheeler County
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 Wheeler County average
Your land is one point inside Wheeler County
Everything above resolves to Wheeler County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 1.1M 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Wheeler County Average
Wheeler County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Wheeler County
- ●One soil character for all of Wheeler County
- ●Frost dates read at Wheeler County's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wheeler County's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Wheeler County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wheeler County, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wheeler County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wheeler County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wheeler County average
How we know this about Wheeler County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Wheeler County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Wheeler County
When does frost risk typically end in Wheeler County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wheeler County typically lands around Apr 23, 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 May 14.
How long is the growing season in Wheeler County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wheeler County sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 12, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wheeler County?
The federal record around Wheeler County shows 50 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (24), the nearest CAFO record about 9.4 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.
Everything above is measured at Wheeler County's scale — its 7a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wheeler County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Oregon's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Wheeler County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Wheeler County's own scale — its own ~186-day span between 28°F freezes and 50 documented sites inside its boundary; 2 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wheeler County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wheeler County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 50 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest CAFO record about 9.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Wheeler County's boundary and the 1,098,253 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wheeler County sitting wholly inside the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Wheeler County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Wheeler County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Wheeler County — the ~186 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wheeler County's 1,098,253 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 50 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Wheeler Countyread your own land →