Fossil, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fossil, 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 Fossil 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 Fossil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fossil — the short answer
Fossil, Oregon: USDA zone 7a, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 501 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 501 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 7a is Fossil's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fossil's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fossil
Each reading below is measured for Fossil itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFossil runs about 183 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
MeasuredFossil 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 Fossil is in
Fossil sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Fossil's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wheeler County.
What Grows in Fossil
Every plant below cleared Fossil's own zone 7a and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fossil?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Fossil
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fossil. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FOSSIL, CITY OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- FOSSIL FILL-UP, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- WRIGHT CHEVROLET INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- OR STATE FORESTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- WINEBARGAR AUTO BODY REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- USDOT FAA RADAR UNIT FOSSILBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- WHEELER COUNTY ROAD DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- WHEELER COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- FOSSIL ARSRUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- SERVICE CREEK TRADING POSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
Measured from Fossil'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 Fossil.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fossil
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Fossil
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 Fossil average
Your land is one point inside Fossil
Everything above resolves to Fossil as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 501 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 Fossil Average
Fossil Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Fossil
- ●One soil character for all of Fossil
- ●Frost dates read at Fossil's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fossil's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fossil
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fossil, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fossil averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fossil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fossil average
How we know this about Fossil
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 Fossil’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 Fossil
When does frost risk typically end in Fossil?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fossil typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Fossil?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fossil typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fossil?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fossil sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 10, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fossil?
The federal record around Fossil is light — 10 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (9), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Fossil?
From about Sep 24 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 Oct 24 (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 Oct 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fossil's scale — its 7a band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fossil'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 Fossil’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fossil's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 501 acres it covers and 10 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fossil's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fossil's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 24 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 10 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fossil, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fossil's boundary and the 501 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fossil's own centroid, the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fossil's 501 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wheeler County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wheeler 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 Wheeler County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fossil's 501 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fossil you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 501 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 Fossil-wide figureread your own land →
More in Oregon
Wider growing context
What grows across OregonFossil sits outside our named growing regions, so Oregon as a whole is its closest context here.