North Bend, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in North Bend, 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 North Bend 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 North Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Bend — the short answer
North Bend, Oregon: USDA zone 9b, about 292 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Coos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Coos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~292
- Coos County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City 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 Coos County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is North Bend's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Bend's 292-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Bend
Each reading below is measured for North Bend itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNorth Bend runs about 292 days between hard freezes (read from Coos County, the closest normal to North Bend) — 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
MeasuredNorth Bend sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 North Bend is in
North Bend sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at North Bend's own centroid rather than borrowed from Coos County.
What Grows in North Bend
Plants matched to North Bend's USDA zones 9b, 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 North Bend?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near North Bend
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Bend. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHEVRON USA INC - 97196Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- SAFEWAY STORE NO 1557Brownfields · 500 ft
- SAFEWAY FUEL CENTER # 1557Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- VILLAGE SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- MOE'S SUPERLUBEUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- VILLAGE CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- RITE AIDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ASTRO #212Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- NORTH BEND BUS COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- DONALD W THOMPSON INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- USCG AIR STATION - NORTH BENDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- US COAST GUARDBrownfields · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Bend'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 North Bend.
Total Sites
276
within ~10 miles of North Bend
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Bend
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Bend
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Bend, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of North Bend — Mining (18 sites) and Superfund (4 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 North Bend
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 North Bend average
Your land is one point inside North Bend
Everything above resolves to North Bend as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Coos 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 North Bend Average
North Bend Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across North Bend
- ●One soil character for all of North Bend
- ●Frost dates read at North Bend's scale: Feb 8 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Bend's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Bend
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Bend, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Bend averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Bend average
How we know this about North Bend
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 Coos 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 North Bend
When does frost risk typically end in North Bend?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Bend typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in North Bend?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Bend typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 292 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Bend?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Bend sees about 292 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 13, about 257 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Bend?
The federal record around North Bend is a meaningful one — 276 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (169), 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 North Bend?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Bend's scale — its 9b band and its 292-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Bend'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 North Bend’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at North Bend's own scale — the 2,516 acres it covers and 276 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Bend's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 276 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Bend, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Bend's boundary and the 2,516 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at North Bend's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — North Bend has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Coos County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Bend's 2,516 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Coos 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 Coos 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 Coos County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Bend's 2,516 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Bend you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,516 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 North Bend-wide figureread your own land →