Roseburg, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Roseburg, 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 Roseburg 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 Roseburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Roseburg — the short answer
Roseburg, Oregon: USDA zone 9a, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 23
- Douglas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Douglas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~277
- Douglas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Douglas County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Roseburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Roseburg's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Roseburg
Each reading below is measured for Roseburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRoseburg runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Douglas County, the closest normal to Roseburg) — 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
MeasuredRoseburg 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 Roseburg is in
Roseburg sits in the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Roseburg's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Douglas County is mostly Cascades. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Roseburg
Plants matched to Roseburg'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 Roseburg?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Roseburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Roseburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SEARS ROEBUCK & CO UNIT 7159Brownfields · 700 ft
- PAUL JACKSON WHOLESALE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- HARRINGTON PETROLEUM INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- U-HAUL CENTER OF ROSEBURGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- AUTOZONE NO 3707Brownfields · 1200 ft
- KEN S DRY CLEANINGBrownfields · 1200 ft
- WALGREENS #12068Brownfields · 1300 ft
- E D DIRKSEN & SONS INC - ARCO DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- HARGRAVE AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CLINT NEWELL MOTORS INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 1500 ft
- OK'S AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Roseburg'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 Roseburg.
Total Sites
294
within ~10 miles of Roseburg
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Roseburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Roseburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Roseburg, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Roseburg — Underground Storage Tanks (215 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (19 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Roseburg
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 Roseburg average
Your land is one point inside Roseburg
Everything above resolves to Roseburg as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 7K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Douglas 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 Roseburg Average
Roseburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Roseburg
- ●One soil character for all of Roseburg
- ●Frost dates read at Roseburg's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Roseburg's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Roseburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Roseburg, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Roseburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Roseburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Roseburg average
How we know this about Roseburg
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 Douglas 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 Roseburg
When does frost risk typically end in Roseburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Roseburg typically lands around Feb 23, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Roseburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Roseburg typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 277 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Roseburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Roseburg sees about 277 frost-free days — roughly Feb 23 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 16 to Nov 13, about 242 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Roseburg?
The federal record around Roseburg is a meaningful one — 294 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (215), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Roseburg?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Roseburg's scale — its 9a band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Roseburg'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 Roseburg’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Roseburg's own scale — the 6,892 acres it covers and 294 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Roseburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 294 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Roseburg, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Roseburg's boundary and the 6,892 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Roseburg sits in the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Roseburg has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Douglas County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Roseburg's 6,892 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Douglas 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 Douglas 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 Douglas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Roseburg's 6,892 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Roseburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,892 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Roseburg-wide figureread your own land →
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