Lowell, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lowell, 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 Lowell 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 Lowell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lowell — the short answer
Lowell, Oregon: USDA zone 9a, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 554 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 17
- Lane County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 28
- Lane County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~284
- Lane County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 554 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 Lane County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Lowell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lowell's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lowell
Each reading below is measured for Lowell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLowell runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Lane County, the closest normal to Lowell) — 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
MeasuredLowell sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Lowell is in
Lowell sits in the Willamette Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Lowell's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Lane County is mostly Cascades. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Lowell
Every plant below cleared Lowell's own zone 9a and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lowell?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Lowell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lowell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BRIDGE TOWN MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- LOWELL GAS AND GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- LOWELL RFPDUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LOWELL SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- UPPER WILLAMETTE VALLEY PROJECTS OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- LOWELL BUS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- USFS LOWELL SERVICE CENTER WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- USDA FS LOWELL SERVICE CENTER WAREHOUSESuperfund · 2100 ft
- COE CIVIL DEXTER DAMSuperfund · 1.0 mi
- DEXTER DAM USACEBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- LANE COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- LOOKOUT POINT DAM AND POWERHOUSE USACEBrownfields · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lowell'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 Lowell.
Total Sites
43
within ~10 miles of Lowell
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lowell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lowell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lowell, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lowell — Superfund (4 sites) and Mining (3 sites). 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.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Lowell
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 Lowell average
Your land is one point inside Lowell
Everything above resolves to Lowell as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 554 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lane 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 Lowell Average
Lowell Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Lowell
- ●One soil character for all of Lowell
- ●Frost dates read at Lowell's scale: Feb 17 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lowell's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lowell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lowell, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lowell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lowell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lowell average
How we know this about Lowell
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 Lane 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 Lowell
When does frost risk typically end in Lowell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lowell typically lands around Feb 17, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Lowell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lowell typically arrives around Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 14, so the watching starts about Oct 29 — about 284 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lowell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lowell sees about 284 frost-free days — roughly Feb 17 through Nov 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 10 to Nov 14, about 249 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lowell?
The federal record around Lowell is a meaningful one — 43 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (27), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Lowell?
From about Oct 29 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lowell's scale — its 9a band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lowell'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 Lowell’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lowell's own scale — the 554 acres it covers and 43 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lowell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 43 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lowell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lowell's boundary and the 554 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Lowell sits in the Willamette Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lowell has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lane County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lowell's 554 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lane County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lane 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 Lane County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lowell's 554 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lowell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 554 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 Lowell-wide figureread your own land →