Metolius, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Metolius, 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 Metolius 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 Metolius — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Metolius — the short answer
Metolius, Oregon: USDA zone 7a, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 306 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 306 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 7a is Metolius's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Metolius's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Metolius
Each reading below is measured for Metolius itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMetolius runs about 175 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredMetolius sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Metolius is in
Metolius sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Metolius's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Metolius
Every plant below cleared Metolius's own zone 7a and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Metolius?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Metolius
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Metolius. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UNOCAL 2727Underground Storage Tanks · 75 ft
- THOMAS SALES & SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- MAIN STREET TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- SNOW'S CLEANERSBrownfields · 450 ft
- MILLER FORD-NISSANUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- JEFFERSON COUNTY CO-OPUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- MADRAS, CITY OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- USWEST - MADRAS C O - 010152Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- SOUTH MADRAS SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- METOLIUS MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- MADRAS MERCURY SPILLSuperfund · 1.7 mi
- CENTRAL TRACTOR COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Metolius'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 Metolius.
Total Sites
92
within ~10 miles of Metolius
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Metolius
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Metolius
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Metolius, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 62 sites within ~10 miles of Metolius. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Metolius
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 Metolius average
Your land is one point inside Metolius
Everything above resolves to Metolius as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 306 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 Metolius Average
Metolius Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Metolius
- ●One soil character for all of Metolius
- ●Frost dates read at Metolius's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Metolius's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Metolius
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Metolius, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Metolius averages can't show:
We read public map data around Metolius — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Metolius average
How we know this about Metolius
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 Metolius’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 Metolius
When does frost risk typically end in Metolius?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Metolius typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Metolius?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Metolius typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Metolius?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Metolius sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Oct 5, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Metolius?
The federal record around Metolius is a meaningful one — 92 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (62), 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 Metolius?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Metolius's scale — its 7a band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Metolius'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 Metolius’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Metolius's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 306 acres it covers and 92 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Metolius's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Metolius's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 19 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 92 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Metolius, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Metolius's boundary and the 306 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Metolius's own centroid, the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Metolius's 306 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Metolius's 306 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Metolius you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 306 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 Metolius-wide figureread your own land →