Portland, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Portland, 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 Portland 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 Portland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Portland — the short answer
Portland, Oregon: USDA zone 9a, about 292 days between hard freezes, across 85K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 13
- Multnomah County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 2
- Multnomah County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~292
- Multnomah County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 85K 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 Multnomah County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Portland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Portland's 292-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Portland
Each reading below is measured for Portland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPortland runs about 292 days between hard freezes (read from Multnomah County, the closest normal to Portland) — 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
MeasuredPortland sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Portland is in
Portland sits in the Willamette Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Portland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Multnomah County.
What Grows in Portland
Every plant below cleared Portland's own zone 9a and its 292-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Portland?
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 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 2 — 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.
Documented around Portland
Survey cells within 31 miles of Portland checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 539 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Portland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Portland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FIVE STAR CLEANERSBrownfields · 800 ft
- BP OIL SITE #11025Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PANOCO INC #43Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- NE PORTLAND MERCURYSuperfund · 1400 ft
- SAFEWAY STORE NO 1612Brownfields · 1400 ft
- SEARS ROEBUCK & CO 1049Brownfields · 1600 ft
- ENGINE-13Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HOLLADAY PARK PLAZABrownfields · 1900 ft
- PHILLIPS 66 COMPANY #071477Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- HAUGEN AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- A-L WELDING COMPRESSED GASES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- VAN DUYN'S CHOC. SHOPS INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Portland'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 Portland.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Portland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Portland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Portland, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Portland — Superfund (63 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (293 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Portland
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 Portland average
Your land is one point inside Portland
Everything above resolves to Portland as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 85K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Multnomah 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 Portland Average
Portland Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Portland
- ●One soil character for all of Portland
- ●Frost dates read at Portland's scale: Feb 13 to Dec 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Portland's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Portland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Portland, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Portland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Portland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Portland average
How we know this about Portland
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 Multnomah 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 Portland
When does frost risk typically end in Portland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Portland typically lands around Feb 13, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Portland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Portland typically arrives around Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 18, so the watching starts about Nov 2 — about 292 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Portland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Portland sees about 292 frost-free days — roughly Feb 13 through Dec 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 6 to Nov 18, about 257 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Portland?
The federal record around Portland runs heavier than most — 4,783 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2,641), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Portland?
From about Nov 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 Dec 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 Dec 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Portland's scale — its 9a band and its 292-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Portland'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 Portland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Portland's own scale — the 85,435 acres it covers and 4,783 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Portland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 4,783 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Portland, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Portland's boundary and the 85,435 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~292-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Portland's own centroid, the Willamette ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Portland checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Portland has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Multnomah County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Portland's 85,435 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Multnomah County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Multnomah 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 Multnomah County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Portland's 85,435 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Portland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 85,435 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Portland-wide figureread your own land →