Government Camp, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Government Camp, 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 Government Camp 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 Government Camp — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Government Camp — the short answer
Government Camp, Oregon: USDA zone 7b, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 478 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 478 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 7b is Government Camp's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Government Camp's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Government Camp
Each reading below is measured for Government Camp itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGovernment Camp runs about 175 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
MeasuredGovernment Camp sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Government Camp is in
Government Camp sits in the Cascades — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Government Camp's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clackamas County.
What Grows in Government Camp
Every plant below cleared Government Camp's own zone 7b and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Government Camp?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Government Camp
Survey cells within 31 miles of Government Camp checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 523 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Government Camp
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Government Camp. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RLK COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TIMBERLINE LODGE - LOWER SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TIMBERLINE LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CENTURYTEL OF EASTERN OREGON, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- RLK & COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- RLK & COMPANY - TIMBERLINE LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- SUMMIT CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ODOT, GOVERNMENT CAMP MAINT.Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- THUNDERHEAD LODGE CONDOMINIUMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SUMMIT CFNUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HUCKLEBERRY INNUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SUMMIT GENERATING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Government Camp'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 Government Camp.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Government Camp
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Government Camp
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Government Camp, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Government Camp. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Government Camp
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 Government Camp average
Your land is one point inside Government Camp
Everything above resolves to Government Camp as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 478 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 town 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 Government Camp Average
Government Camp Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Government Camp
- ●One soil character for all of Government Camp
- ●Frost dates read at Government Camp's scale: May 3 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Government Camp's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Government Camp
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Government Camp, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Government Camp averages can't show:
We read public map data around Government Camp — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Government Camp average
How we know this about Government Camp
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Government Camp’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Government Camp
When does frost risk typically end in Government Camp?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Government Camp typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Government Camp?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Government Camp typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Government Camp?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Government Camp sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Oct 11, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Government Camp?
The federal record around Government Camp is light — 30 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (26), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Government Camp?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Government Camp's scale — its 7b band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Government Camp'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 Government Camp’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Government Camp's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 478 acres it covers and 30 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Government Camp's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Government Camp's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 25 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 30 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Government Camp, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Government Camp's boundary and the 478 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Government Camp's own centroid, the CascadesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Government Camp checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Government Camp's 478 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clackamas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clackamas 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 Clackamas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Government Camp's 478 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Government Camp you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 478 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Government Camp-wide figureread your own land →