Independence, 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.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Independence, 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 Independence 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 Independence — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Independence — the short answer
Independence, Oregon: USDA zone 8b, about 278 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 25
- Polk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Polk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~278
- Polk County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Polk County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Independence's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Independence's 278-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Independence
Each reading below is measured for Independence itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsIndependence runs about 278 days between hard freezes (read from Polk County, the closest normal to Independence) — 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
MeasuredIndependence 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 Independence is in
Independence sits in the Willamette Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Independence's own centroid rather than borrowed from Polk County.
What Grows in Independence
Every plant below cleared Independence's own zone 8b and its 278-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Independence?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
Documented around Independence
Survey cells within 31 miles of Independence checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 494 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Independence
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Independence. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ELKAY MANUFACTURINGToxics Release Inventory · 1100 ft
- ELKAY MANUFACTURINGBrownfields · 1100 ft
- MARQUIS CORP. DBA MARQUIS SPASToxics Release Inventory · 2000 ft
- MARQUIS CORP. DBA MARQUIS SPASBrownfields · 2000 ft
- INDEPENDENCE STATE AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- INDEPENDENCE AVIATION, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- JOHNNY'S AUTO WRECKERS, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- CIRCLE S MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- CENTRAL 13J TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- POLK COUNTY FARMERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TRUAX CORPORATION, #32Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- KIGHTLINGER, TEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Independence'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 Independence.
Total Sites
490
within ~10 miles of Independence
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Independence
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Independence
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Independence, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 7 sites within ~10 miles of Independence. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Independence
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 Independence average
Your land is one point inside Independence
Everything above resolves to Independence as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Polk 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 Independence Average
Independence Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Independence
- ●One soil character for all of Independence
- ●Frost dates read at Independence's scale: Feb 25 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Independence's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Independence
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Independence, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Independence averages can't show:
We read public map data around Independence — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Independence average
How we know this about Independence
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 Polk 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 Independence
When does frost risk typically end in Independence?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Independence typically lands around Feb 25, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Independence?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Independence typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 278 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Independence?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Independence sees about 278 frost-free days — roughly Feb 25 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 18 to Nov 16, about 243 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Independence?
The federal record around Independence is a meaningful one — 490 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (286), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles 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 Independence?
From about Oct 31 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 Nov 30 (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 Nov 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Independence's scale — its 8b band and its 278-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Independence'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 Independence’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Independence's own scale — the 1,923 acres it covers and 490 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Independence's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 490 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Independence, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Independence's boundary and the 1,923 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~278-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Independence's own centroid, the Willamette ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Independence checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Independence has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Polk County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Independence's 1,923 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Polk County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Polk 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 Polk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Independence's 1,923 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Independence you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,923 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Independence-wide figureread your own land →