Pistol River, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Pistol River, 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 Pistol River 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 Pistol River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pistol River — the short answer
Pistol River, Oregon: USDA zone 9b, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 377 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 11
- Curry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 6
- Curry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~298
- Curry County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 377 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 Curry County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Pistol River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pistol River's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pistol River
Each reading below is measured for Pistol River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPistol River runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from Curry County, the closest normal to Pistol River) — 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
MeasuredPistol River 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 Pistol River is in
Pistol River sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Pistol River's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Curry County is mostly Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Pistol River
Every plant below cleared Pistol River's own zone 9b and its 298-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pistol River?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Pistol River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pistol River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PISTOL RIVER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GOLD BEACH RANGER STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- OR STATE HWY 3-7 PISTOL RIVERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- ODOT HWY DIV HUNTER CREEKBrownfields · 6.1 mi
- CURRY COUNTY, BROOKINGS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- CURRY COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- Red Flat LateriteMining · 6.6 mi
- Red FlatMining · 6.7 mi
- GOLD BEACH AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 6.9 mi
- HUNTER CREEK PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- H W CROOK ESTATE - FLYNN RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.1 mi
- Red Flat PlacersMining · 7.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pistol River'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 Pistol River.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pistol River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pistol River
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pistol River, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Pistol River — Mining (10 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (27 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Pistol River
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 Pistol River average
Your land is one point inside Pistol River
Everything above resolves to Pistol River as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 377 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Curry 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 Pistol River Average
Pistol River Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Pistol River
- ●One soil character for all of Pistol River
- ●Frost dates read at Pistol River's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pistol River's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pistol River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pistol River, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pistol River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pistol River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pistol River average
How we know this about Pistol River
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 Curry 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 Pistol River
When does frost risk typically end in Pistol River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pistol River typically lands around Feb 11, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Pistol River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pistol River typically arrives around Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 22, so the watching starts about Nov 6 — about 298 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pistol River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pistol River sees about 298 frost-free days — roughly Feb 11 through Dec 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 4 to Nov 22, about 263 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pistol River?
The federal record around Pistol River shows 41 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (27), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Pistol River?
From about Nov 6 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 Dec 6 (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 Dec 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pistol River's scale — its 9b band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pistol River'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 Pistol River’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Pistol River's own scale — the 377 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pistol River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pistol River, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pistol River's boundary and the 377 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Pistol River sits in the Coast Range — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Pistol River has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Curry County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pistol River's 377 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Curry County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Curry 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 Curry County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pistol River's 377 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pistol River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 377 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Pistol River-wide figureread your own land →