South Lebanon, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Lebanon, 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 South Lebanon 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 South Lebanon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
South Lebanon — the short answer
South Lebanon, Oregon: USDA zone 8b, about 258 days between hard freezes, across 750 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 10
- Linn County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Linn County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~258
- Linn County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 750 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 Linn County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is South Lebanon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Lebanon's 258-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Lebanon
Each reading below is measured for South Lebanon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSouth Lebanon runs about 258 days between hard freezes (read from Linn County, the closest normal to South Lebanon) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredSouth Lebanon 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 South Lebanon is in
South Lebanon sits in the Willamette Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at South Lebanon's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Linn County is mostly Cascades. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in South Lebanon
Every plant below cleared South Lebanon's own zone 8b and its 258-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Lebanon?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around South Lebanon
Survey cells within 31 miles of South Lebanon checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 468 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Lebanon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Lebanon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CROWFOOT SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- LEBANON COMMUNITY SCHOOL DIST #9Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- James R. Lebanon Landfill Monitoring Well MW-5SNitrate · 0.6 mi
- POOR RICHARDS MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #1775Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- LEBANON PLYWOOD, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- LAKE CHEADLE RECREATION AREAToxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- D & W MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- LOVE PROPERTIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- TRUAX CORPORATION #40Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- LEBANON ANIMAL HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- KNOTHOLE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Lebanon'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 South Lebanon.
Total Sites
154
within ~10 miles of South Lebanon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Lebanon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Lebanon
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in South Lebanon
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 South Lebanon average
Your land is one point inside South Lebanon
Everything above resolves to South Lebanon as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 750 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Linn 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 South Lebanon Average
South Lebanon Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across South Lebanon
- ●One soil character for all of South Lebanon
- ●Frost dates read at South Lebanon's scale: Mar 10 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Lebanon's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Lebanon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Lebanon, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Lebanon averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Lebanon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Lebanon average
How we know this about South Lebanon
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 Linn 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 South Lebanon
When does frost risk typically end in South Lebanon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Lebanon typically lands around Mar 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in South Lebanon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Lebanon typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 258 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Lebanon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Lebanon sees about 258 frost-free days — roughly Mar 10 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 31 to Nov 9, about 223 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Lebanon?
The federal record around South Lebanon is a meaningful one — 154 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (82), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 South Lebanon?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Lebanon's scale — its 8b band and its 258-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Lebanon'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 South Lebanon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at South Lebanon's own scale — the 750 acres it covers and 154 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Lebanon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 154 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Lebanon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Lebanon's boundary and the 750 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~258-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- South Lebanon sits in the Willamette Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around South Lebanon checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — South Lebanon has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Linn County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Lebanon's 750 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Linn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Linn 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 Linn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Lebanon's 750 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Lebanon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 750 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 South Lebanon-wide figureread your own land →