Summerville, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Summerville, 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 Summerville 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 Summerville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Summerville — the short answer
Summerville, Oregon: USDA zone 6b, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 169 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 169 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6b is Summerville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Summerville's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Summerville
Each reading below is measured for Summerville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSummerville runs about 165 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredSummerville sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Summerville is in
Summerville sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Summerville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Union County.
What Grows in Summerville
Every plant below cleared Summerville's own zone 6b and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Summerville?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Summerville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Summerville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SUMMERVILLE STORE & TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- CASEY'S AUTO REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- ARNOLDUS, ALFRED A - TRICO FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- H G WAGNER & SONS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- BARENBURG USAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- IMBLER CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- BLUE MT SEEDS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- IMBLER RFPDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- LATHROP, RONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- 01N/39E-16DBD1Nitrate · 5.9 mi
- ELGIN COMPLEXBrownfields · 6.1 mi
- ELGIN COMPLEXToxics Release Inventory · 6.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Summerville'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 Summerville.
Total Sites
41
within ~10 miles of Summerville
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Summerville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Summerville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Summerville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Summerville — Toxics Release Inventory (6 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (28 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Summerville
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 Summerville average
Your land is one point inside Summerville
Everything above resolves to Summerville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 169 acres. 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 Summerville Average
Summerville Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Summerville
- ●One soil character for all of Summerville
- ●Frost dates read at Summerville's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Summerville's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Summerville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Summerville, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Summerville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Summerville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Summerville average
How we know this about Summerville
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 Summerville’s own record; 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 Summerville
When does frost risk typically end in Summerville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Summerville typically lands around Apr 28, 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 May 19.
When is the first frost in Summerville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Summerville typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Summerville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Summerville sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 26, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Summerville?
The federal record around Summerville is light — 41 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (28), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Summerville?
From about Sep 10 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 Oct 10 (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 Oct 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Summerville's scale — its 6b band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Summerville'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 Summerville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Summerville's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 169 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Summerville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Summerville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 10 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Summerville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Summerville's boundary and the 169 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Summerville's own centroid, the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Summerville's 169 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Union County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Union 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 Union County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Summerville's 169 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Summerville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 169 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Summerville-wide figureread your own land →
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