Port Orford, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Port Orford, 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 Port Orford 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 Port Orford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Port Orford — the short answer
Port Orford, Oregon: USDA zone 9b, about 298 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- 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
- City area
- 1K 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 Port Orford's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Port Orford's 298-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Port Orford
Each reading below is measured for Port Orford itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPort Orford runs about 298 days between hard freezes (read from Curry County, the closest normal to Port Orford) — 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
MeasuredPort Orford 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 Port Orford is in
Port Orford sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Port Orford'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 Port Orford
Every plant below cleared Port Orford'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 Port Orford?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Port Orford
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Port Orford. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CARSON PORT ORFORD CFNUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- BATTLE ROCK GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- PORT ORFORD CFNUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- PORT ORFORD CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- FOREST ACCESS, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- CARSON PORT ORFORD BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- HODGE DIST INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- ODOT HWY DIV PORT ORFORDBrownfields · 700 ft
- PORT ORFORD HWY MAINTENANCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- OLD PORT ORFORD OFFICE & WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- ARIZONA BEACH RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- GTE-PORT ORFORD CENTRAL OFFICE(6090-B01)Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Port Orford'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 Port Orford.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Port Orford
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Port Orford
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Port Orford, Mining runs higher than the national average — 21 sites within ~10 miles of Port Orford. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Port Orford
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 Port Orford average
Your land is one point inside Port Orford
Everything above resolves to Port Orford as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Curry 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 Port Orford Average
Port Orford Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Port Orford
- ●One soil character for all of Port Orford
- ●Frost dates read at Port Orford's scale: Feb 11 to Dec 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Port Orford's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Port Orford
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Port Orford, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Port Orford averages can't show:
We read public map data around Port Orford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Port Orford average
How we know this about Port Orford
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 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 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 Port Orford
When does frost risk typically end in Port Orford?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Port Orford 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 Port Orford?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Port Orford 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 Port Orford?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Port Orford 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 Port Orford?
The federal record around Port Orford is a meaningful one — 46 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (23), 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 Port Orford?
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 Port Orford's scale — its 9b band and its 298-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Port Orford'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 Port Orford’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Port Orford's own scale — the 1,005 acres it covers and 46 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Port Orford's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 46 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Port Orford, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Port Orford's boundary and the 1,005 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~298-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Port Orford 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 — Port Orford 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 Port Orford's 1,005 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 Port Orford's 1,005 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Port Orford you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,005 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 Port Orford-wide figureread your own land →