Marcola, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Marcola, 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 Marcola 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 Marcola — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Marcola — the short answer
Marcola, Oregon: USDA zone 8b, about 284 days between hard freezes, across 778 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- 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
- Town area
- 778 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 8b is Marcola's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Marcola's 284-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Marcola
Each reading below is measured for Marcola itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMarcola runs about 284 days between hard freezes (read from Lane County, the closest normal to Marcola) — 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
MeasuredMarcola 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 Marcola is in
Marcola sits in the Willamette Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Marcola'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 Marcola
Every plant below cleared Marcola's own zone 8b and its 284-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Marcola?
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 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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Marcola
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Marcola. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOMAHAWK SPORTS BAR AND GRILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- LANE COUNTY SCHOOL DIST 79JUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- MARCOLA RURAL FIRE DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- MOHAWK GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- SHOTGUN CREEK RECREATION SITE USBLMBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- SPRINGFIELD COUNTRY CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- BLM ROAD MAINTANANCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- MARCOLA WATER DISTRICTPFAS · 6.0 mi
- SPRINGFIELD UTILITY BOARDPFAS · 6.0 mi
- CAMP CREEK STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.2 mi
- WALTERVILLE POWERHOUSEBrownfields · 7.3 mi
- STATON CONSTRUCTION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Marcola'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 Marcola.
Total Sites
70
within ~10 miles of Marcola
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Marcola
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Marcola
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Marcola, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Marcola — Toxics Release Inventory (6 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (43 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Marcola
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 Marcola average
Your land is one point inside Marcola
Everything above resolves to Marcola as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 778 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lane County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 town 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 Marcola Average
Marcola Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Marcola
- ●One soil character for all of Marcola
- ●Frost dates read at Marcola's scale: Feb 17 to Nov 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Marcola's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Marcola
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Marcola, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Marcola averages can't show:
We read public map data around Marcola — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Marcola average
How we know this about Marcola
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Marcola
When does frost risk typically end in Marcola?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Marcola 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 Marcola?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Marcola 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 Marcola?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Marcola 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 Marcola?
The federal record around Marcola shows 70 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (43), 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 Marcola?
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 Marcola's scale — its 8b band and its 284-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Marcola'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 Marcola’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Marcola's own scale — the 778 acres it covers and 70 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Marcola's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 70 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Marcola, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Marcola's boundary and the 778 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~284-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Marcola 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 — Marcola 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 Marcola's 778 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 Marcola's 778 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Marcola you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 778 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 Marcola-wide figureread your own land →