Merlin, 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.
The conditions favor kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Merlin, 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 Merlin 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 Merlin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Merlin — the short answer
Merlin, Oregon: USDA zone 8b, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- Josephine County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- Josephine County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- Josephine County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Josephine County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Merlin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Merlin's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Merlin
Each reading below is measured for Merlin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMerlin runs about 199 days between hard freezes (read from Josephine County, the closest normal to Merlin) — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMerlin 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 Merlin is in
Merlin sits in the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Merlin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Josephine County.
What Grows in Merlin
Plants matched to Merlin's USDA zones 8b, 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 Merlin?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Merlin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Merlin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MERLIN TRADINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- C & D MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- LIL PANTRY GAS-MERLIN, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- OR PUMP SERVICE - GERALD E WEIR, OWNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- RENDATA INDUSTRIAL PARKSuperfund · 1.0 mi
- MILLER REDWOOD COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CAVEMAN LUMBER CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Unnamed Molybdenum OccurrenceMining · 1.8 mi
- Molybdenum OccurrenceMining · 1.8 mi
- 35S/06W-09DBDNitrate · 2.0 mi
- USDOI BLM MERLIN LDFLSuperfund · 2.0 mi
- GRANTS PASS AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Merlin'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 Merlin.
Total Sites
323
within ~10 miles of Merlin
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Merlin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Merlin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Merlin, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Merlin — Mining (84 sites) and Superfund (5 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Merlin
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 Merlin average
Your land is one point inside Merlin
Everything above resolves to Merlin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Josephine 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 Merlin Average
Merlin Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Merlin
- ●One soil character for all of Merlin
- ●Frost dates read at Merlin's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Merlin's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Merlin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Merlin, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Merlin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Merlin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Merlin average
How we know this about Merlin
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 Josephine 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 Merlin
When does frost risk typically end in Merlin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Merlin typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Merlin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Merlin typically arrives around Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 16, so the watching starts about Sep 30 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Merlin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Merlin sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 16, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Merlin?
The federal record around Merlin runs heavier than most — 323 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (156), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Merlin?
From about Sep 30 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 Oct 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 Oct 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Merlin's scale — its 8b band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Merlin'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 Merlin’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Merlin's own scale — the 2,656 acres it covers and 323 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Merlin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 323 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Merlin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Merlin's boundary and the 2,656 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Merlin's own centroid, the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Merlin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Josephine County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Merlin's 2,656 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Josephine 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 Josephine 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 Josephine County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Merlin's 2,656 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Merlin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,656 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Merlin-wide figureread your own land →
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