Dayton, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Dayton, 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 Dayton 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 Dayton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dayton — the short answer
Dayton, Oregon: USDA zone 8b, about 290 days between hard freezes, across 535 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 16
- Yamhill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 3
- Yamhill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~290
- Yamhill County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 535 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 Yamhill County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Dayton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dayton's 290-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dayton
Each reading below is measured for Dayton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDayton runs about 290 days between hard freezes (read from Yamhill County, the closest normal to Dayton) — 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
MeasuredDayton sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Dayton is in
Dayton sits in the Willamette Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Dayton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Yamhill County.
What Grows in Dayton
Every plant below cleared Dayton's own zone 8b and its 290-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dayton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
Documented around Dayton
Survey cells within 31 miles of Dayton checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 518 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Dayton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dayton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DAYTON, CITY OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- DAYTON CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- GONZALES SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- KNIFE RIVER CORPORATION - NORTHWESTToxics Release Inventory · 1400 ft
- SWEENEY, SAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 04S/03W-17AACNitrate · 0.6 mi
- ROGERS, RONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- VALLEY CAMPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- LEO PEIRCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- STOLLER, HARVEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- WASHINGTON ROOFING COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- ERICKSON'S AUTO SUPPLY & SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dayton'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 Dayton.
Total Sites
398
within ~10 miles of Dayton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dayton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dayton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dayton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Dayton — CAFO (11 sites) and PFAS (5 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Dayton
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 Dayton average
Your land is one point inside Dayton
Everything above resolves to Dayton as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 535 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Yamhill 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 Dayton Average
Dayton Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Dayton
- ●One soil character for all of Dayton
- ●Frost dates read at Dayton's scale: Feb 16 to Dec 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dayton's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dayton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dayton, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dayton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dayton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dayton average
How we know this about Dayton
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 Yamhill 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 Dayton
When does frost risk typically end in Dayton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dayton typically lands around Feb 16, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Dayton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dayton typically arrives around Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 19, so the watching starts about Nov 3 — about 290 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dayton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dayton sees about 290 frost-free days — roughly Feb 16 through Dec 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 9 to Nov 19, about 255 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dayton?
The federal record around Dayton is a meaningful one — 398 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (251), 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 Dayton?
From about Nov 3 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 Dec 3 (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 Dec 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dayton's scale — its 8b band and its 290-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dayton'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 Dayton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Dayton's own scale — the 535 acres it covers and 398 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dayton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 398 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dayton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dayton's boundary and the 535 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~290-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dayton's own centroid, the Willamette ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Dayton checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Dayton has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Yamhill County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dayton's 535 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Yamhill County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Yamhill 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 Yamhill County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dayton's 535 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dayton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 535 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 Dayton-wide figureread your own land →