Hines, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hines, 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 Hines 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 Hines — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hines — the short answer
Hines, Oregon: USDA zone 5b, about 123 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~123
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 5b is Hines's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hines's 123-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hines
Each reading below is measured for Hines itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHines runs about 123 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredHines sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Hines is in
Hines sits in the Northern Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Hines's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harney County.
What Grows in Hines
Every plant below cleared Hines's own zone 5b and its 123-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hines?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Hines
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hines. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FEDERAL EXPRESS - BURNBrownfields · 450 ft
- THE HINES MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- KNOTTY PINE CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- LOUISIANA-PACIFIC HINES SITEToxics Release Inventory · 2000 ft
- BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCHBrownfields · 2300 ft
- 23.00S/30.00E-23CDANitrate · 2400 ft
- COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGIESToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- TIME OIL COMPANY #3-006Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HINES, CITY OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ALLISON GUARD STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EDDIE'S TRUCK & AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BLM BURNS DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hines'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 Hines.
Total Sites
79
within ~10 miles of Hines
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hines
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hines
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hines, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Hines. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Hines
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 Hines average
Your land is one point inside Hines
Everything above resolves to Hines as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Hines Average
Hines Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Hines
- ●One soil character for all of Hines
- ●Frost dates read at Hines's scale: May 23 to Sep 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hines's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hines
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hines, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hines averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hines — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hines average
How we know this about Hines
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 Hines’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 Hines
When does frost risk typically end in Hines?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hines typically lands around May 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 Jun 13.
When is the first frost in Hines?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hines typically arrives around Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 9, so the watching starts about Aug 24 — about 123 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hines?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hines sees about 123 frost-free days — roughly May 23 through Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 13 to Sep 9, about 88 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hines?
The federal record around Hines shows 79 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (42), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Hines?
With about 123 frost-free days between hard freezes, Hines rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 151 to 179 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 23 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Hines's scale — its 5b band and its 123-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hines'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 Hines’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hines's own scale — its own ~123-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,320 acres it covers and 79 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hines's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hines's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 23 and Sep 23 and the ~123-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 79 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hines, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hines's boundary and the 1,320 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~123-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hines's own centroid, the Northern Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hines's 1,320 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harney County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harney 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 Harney County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hines's 1,320 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hines you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,320 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Hines-wide figureread your own land →
More in Oregon
Wider growing context
What grows across OregonHines sits outside our named growing regions, so Oregon as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides