Lostine, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lostine, 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 Lostine 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 Lostine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lostine — the short answer
Lostine, Oregon: USDA zone 6a, about 143 days between hard freezes, across 184 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~143
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 184 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 6a is Lostine's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lostine's 143-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lostine
Each reading below is measured for Lostine itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLostine runs about 143 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
MeasuredLostine sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Lostine is in
Lostine sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Lostine's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wallowa County.
What Grows in Lostine
Every plant below cleared Lostine's own zone 6a and its 143-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lostine?
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 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Lostine
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lostine. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALLOWA COUNTY GRAIN GROWERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- MOFFIT BROS. TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GTE - HOWARD BUTTE MW REMOTE (5190-B01)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- ROCKING ELEVEN RANCH LLC - FEEDLOTCAFO · 1.4 mi
- BILL WOLFE RANCHESUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- WS RANCHES INC - FEEDLOTCAFO · 5.5 mi
- CITY SHOPSUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- BILL'S HIGHWAY SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- CITY FIRE & MAINTENANCE SHOPSUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
- HENDERSON FUEL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
- GOEBEL'S LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- MCCOY FARMS, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lostine'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 Lostine.
Total Sites
45
within ~10 miles of Lostine
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lostine
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lostine
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lostine, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 35 sites within ~10 miles of Lostine. 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 Lostine
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 Lostine average
Your land is one point inside Lostine
Everything above resolves to Lostine as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 184 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 Lostine Average
Lostine Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Lostine
- ●One soil character for all of Lostine
- ●Frost dates read at Lostine's scale: May 10 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lostine's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lostine
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lostine, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lostine averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lostine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lostine average
How we know this about Lostine
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 Lostine’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 Lostine
When does frost risk typically end in Lostine?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lostine typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Lostine?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lostine typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 143 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lostine?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lostine sees about 143 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 16, about 108 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lostine?
The federal record around Lostine is light — 45 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (35), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Lostine?
With about 143 frost-free days between hard freezes, Lostine 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 171 to 199 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Lostine's scale — its 6a band and its 143-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lostine'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 Lostine’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lostine's own scale — its own ~143-day season between 28°F freezes, the 184 acres it covers and 45 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lostine's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lostine's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Sep 30 and the ~143-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 45 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lostine, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lostine's boundary and the 184 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~143-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lostine's own centroid, the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lostine's 184 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wallowa County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wallowa 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 Wallowa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lostine's 184 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lostine you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 184 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 Lostine-wide figureread your own land →
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