North Powder, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in North Powder, 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 Powder 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 Powder — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Powder — the short answer
North Powder, Oregon: USDA zone 6a, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 402 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 402 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 6a is North Powder's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Powder's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Powder
Each reading below is measured for North Powder itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Powder runs about 151 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
MeasuredNorth Powder sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Powder is in
North Powder sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at North Powder's own centroid rather than borrowed from Union County.
What Grows in North Powder
Every plant below cleared North Powder's own zone 6a and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Powder?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — 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 North Powder
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Powder. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MURDOCK'S SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- UNION COUNTY PUBLIC WORKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- EVANS CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- POWDER VALLEY SCHOOL DIST. 8JUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BYRNES OIL NORTH POWDER CARDLOCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Gold OccurrenceMining · 2.0 mi
- Unnamed ProspectMining · 2.0 mi
- North Powder MineMining · 2.0 mi
- CROP PRODUCTION SERVICES 159 SATELLITEBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- VALLEY CHEMICALUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Jackrabbit ProspectMining · 3.1 mi
- Jackrabbite Gold ProspectMining · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Powder'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 Powder.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Powder
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Powder
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Powder, Mining runs higher than the national average — 39 sites within ~10 miles of North Powder. 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.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in North Powder
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 Powder average
Your land is one point inside North Powder
Everything above resolves to North Powder as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 402 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 North Powder Average
North Powder Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across North Powder
- ●One soil character for all of North Powder
- ●Frost dates read at North Powder's scale: May 4 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Powder's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Powder
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Powder, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Powder averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Powder — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Powder average
How we know this about North Powder
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 North Powder’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 North Powder
When does frost risk typically end in North Powder?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Powder typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in North Powder?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Powder typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Powder?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Powder sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 18, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Powder?
The federal record around North Powder shows 53 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (39), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 North Powder?
From about Sep 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Powder's scale — its 6a band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Powder'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 Powder’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at North Powder's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 402 acres it covers and 53 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Powder's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- North Powder's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 2 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 53 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Powder, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Powder's boundary and the 402 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Powder's own centroid, the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Powder's 402 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Union County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Union 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 Union County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Powder's 402 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Powder you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 402 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 North Powder-wide figureread your own land →
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