River Point, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in River Point, 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 River Point 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 River Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
River Point — the short answer
River Point, Oregon: USDA zone 9a, about 263 days between hard freezes, across 333 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 4
- Clatsop County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Clatsop County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~263
- Clatsop County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 333 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 Clatsop County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is River Point's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against River Point's 263-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in River Point
Each reading below is measured for River Point itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRiver Point runs about 263 days between hard freezes (read from Clatsop County, the closest normal to River Point) — 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
MeasuredRiver Point 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 River Point is in
River Point sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at River Point's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clatsop County.
What Grows in River Point
Plants matched to River Point's USDA zones 9a, 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 River Point?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — 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 River Point
Closest first, within ~10 miles of River Point. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RICHARD H. LEE DAIRYCAFO · 0.6 mi
- LANDWEHR'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- AFBM, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- TIDE POINTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- OGLIVIE COMPANY INC THEBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- CLATSOP CO PUBLIC WKSBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- CLATSOP COUNTY ROAD DEPT - ASTORIA SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- BAYVIEW TRANSIT MIX INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- COAST GUARD EXCHANGE ASTORIAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- ASTORIA MARINE CONSTRUCTION COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- ASTORIA MARINE CONSTRUCTION COMPANYSuperfund · 2.7 mi
- WEYERHAEUSER CO.Brownfields · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from River Point'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 River Point.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of River Point
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of River Point
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around River Point, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of River Point — Superfund (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (117 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in River Point
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 River Point average
Your land is one point inside River Point
Everything above resolves to River Point as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 333 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clatsop 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 River Point Average
River Point Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across River Point
- ●One soil character for all of River Point
- ●Frost dates read at River Point's scale: Mar 4 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not River Point's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in River Point
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in River Point, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that River Point averages can't show:
We read public map data around River Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the River Point average
How we know this about River Point
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 Clatsop 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 River Point
When does frost risk typically end in River Point?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in River Point typically lands around Mar 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 Mar 25.
When is the first frost in River Point?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in River Point typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 263 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in River Point?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, River Point sees about 263 frost-free days — roughly Mar 4 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 25 to Nov 8, about 228 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in River Point?
The federal record around River Point is a meaningful one — 170 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (117), the nearest CAFO record about 0.6 miles 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 River Point?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at River Point's scale — its 9a band and its 263-day season. Your yard writes its own version of River Point'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 River Point’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at River Point's own scale — the 333 acres it covers and 170 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- River Point's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 170 documented contamination sites on the federal record near River Point, the closest CAFO record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- River Point's boundary and the 333 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at River Point's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — River Point has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clatsop County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so River Point's 333 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clatsop 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 Clatsop 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 Clatsop County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among River Point's 333 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of River Point you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 333 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest CAFO record about 0.6 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 River Point-wide figureread your own land →