Scappoose, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Scappoose, 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 Scappoose 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 Scappoose — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Scappoose — the short answer
Scappoose, Oregon: USDA zone 8b, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 9
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 26
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Columbia County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Columbia County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Scappoose's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Scappoose's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Scappoose
Each reading below is measured for Scappoose itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsScappoose runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Columbia County, the closest normal to Scappoose) — 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
MeasuredScappoose sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Scappoose is in
Scappoose sits in the Willamette Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Scappoose's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Columbia County is mostly Coast Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Scappoose
Every plant below cleared Scappoose's own zone 8b and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Scappoose?
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 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 26 — 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.
Documented around Scappoose
Survey cells within 31 miles of Scappoose checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 554 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Scappoose
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Scappoose. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BARE BEGINNINGSBrownfields · 1300 ft
- ENGSTROM FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- COLUMBIA COUNTY ROAD DEPT-SCAPPOOSE SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- BALD HILL REPEATER SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SCAPPOOSE FIRE DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ESTATE - ALTON GRABHORNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CLARK SIGNSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- GLACIER NORTHWEST INC. - SCAPPOOSE READY MIXToxics Release Inventory · 2100 ft
- SCAPPOOSE SAND & GRAVEL CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CASCADES TISSUE GROUP OREGON CONVERTINGBrownfields · 2300 ft
- TEXACO STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- COYOTE DRY CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Scappoose'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 Scappoose.
Total Sites
208
within ~10 miles of Scappoose
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Scappoose
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Scappoose
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Scappoose, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Scappoose — Superfund (7 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Scappoose
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 Scappoose average
Your land is one point inside Scappoose
Everything above resolves to Scappoose as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Columbia 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 Scappoose Average
Scappoose Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Scappoose
- ●One soil character for all of Scappoose
- ●Frost dates read at Scappoose's scale: Mar 9 to Nov 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Scappoose's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Scappoose
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Scappoose, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Scappoose averages can't show:
We read public map data around Scappoose — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Scappoose average
How we know this about Scappoose
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 Columbia 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 Scappoose
When does frost risk typically end in Scappoose?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Scappoose typically lands around Mar 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Scappoose?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Scappoose typically arrives around Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 12, so the watching starts about Oct 27 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Scappoose?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Scappoose sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 9 through Nov 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 30 to Nov 12, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Scappoose?
The federal record around Scappoose is a meaningful one — 208 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (119), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Scappoose?
From about Oct 27 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Scappoose's scale — its 8b band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Scappoose'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 Scappoose’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Scappoose's own scale — the 2,199 acres it covers and 208 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Scappoose's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 208 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Scappoose, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Scappoose's boundary and the 2,199 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Scappoose sits in the Willamette Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Scappoose checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Scappoose has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Columbia County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Scappoose's 2,199 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Columbia County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Columbia 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 Columbia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Scappoose's 2,199 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Scappoose you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,199 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 Scappoose-wide figureread your own land →
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