Lincoln City, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lincoln City, 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 Lincoln City 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 Lincoln City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lincoln City — the short answer
Lincoln City, Oregon: USDA zone 9b, about 308 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~308
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Lincoln County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Lincoln City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lincoln City's 308-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lincoln City
Each reading below is measured for Lincoln City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLincoln City runs about 308 days between hard freezes (read from Lincoln County, the closest normal to Lincoln City) — 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
MeasuredLincoln City sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Lincoln City is in
Lincoln City sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Lincoln City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Lincoln City
Plants matched to Lincoln City's USDA zones 9b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Lincoln City?
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 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Lincoln City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lincoln City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- A M HATTON INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- OREGON BANK, THEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- DAVID BICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- TRUAX CORPORATION #91Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- LINCOLN CITY, CITY OF (VACANT)Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CITY MAINTENANCE SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MISR PETROLEUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- LINCOLN CITY CHEVRON #97Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- LINCOLN CITY EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- FUTURE OIL CAN HENRYSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- VANITY CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- UNITED TELEPHONE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lincoln City'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 Lincoln City.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lincoln City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lincoln City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lincoln City, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 60 sites within ~10 miles of Lincoln City. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Lincoln City
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 Lincoln City average
Your land is one point inside Lincoln City
Everything above resolves to Lincoln City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lincoln 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 Lincoln City Average
Lincoln City Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Lincoln City
- ●One soil character for all of Lincoln City
- ●Frost dates read at Lincoln City's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lincoln City's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lincoln City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lincoln City, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lincoln City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lincoln City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lincoln City average
How we know this about Lincoln City
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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln City
When does frost risk typically end in Lincoln City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lincoln City typically lands around Feb 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 Feb 24.
When is the first frost in Lincoln City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lincoln City typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 308 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lincoln City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lincoln City sees about 308 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 24, about 273 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lincoln City?
The federal record around Lincoln City shows 69 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (60), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 I protect my plants from frost in Lincoln City?
From about Nov 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lincoln City's scale — its 9b band and its 308-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lincoln City'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 Lincoln City’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Lincoln City's own scale — the 3,872 acres it covers and 69 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lincoln City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 69 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lincoln City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lincoln City's boundary and the 3,872 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Lincoln City's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lincoln City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lincoln County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lincoln City's 3,872 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- The candidate plant list — Oregon's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Oregon
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lincoln City's 3,872 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lincoln City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,872 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 Lincoln City-wide figureread your own land →