Sutherlin, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Sutherlin, 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 Sutherlin 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 Sutherlin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sutherlin — the short answer
Sutherlin, Oregon: USDA zone 9a, about 277 days between hard freezes, across 4K 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
- 4K 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 Sutherlin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sutherlin's 277-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sutherlin
Each reading below is measured for Sutherlin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSutherlin runs about 277 days between hard freezes (read from Douglas County, the closest normal to Sutherlin) — 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
MeasuredSutherlin 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 Sutherlin is in
Sutherlin sits in the Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Sutherlin'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 Sutherlin
Plants matched to Sutherlin'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 Sutherlin?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Sutherlin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sutherlin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SUTHERLIN SCHOOL DISTRICT 130Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- ROADRUNNER GAS/COYOTE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- RON'S OIL FAST GAS #14Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- M & P AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- MURPHY PLYWOOD/SUTHERLINUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- GEORGIA-PACIFIC CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- HELD MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- DISCOUNT CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- NONE AT PRESENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- WECO SUTHERLINUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SUTHERLIN, CITY OF - PUBLIC WORKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MCGUFFIE'S BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sutherlin'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 Sutherlin.
Total Sites
106
within ~10 miles of Sutherlin
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sutherlin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sutherlin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sutherlin, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sutherlin — Superfund (3 sites) and Mining (11 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.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Sutherlin
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 Sutherlin average
Your land is one point inside Sutherlin
Everything above resolves to Sutherlin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 4K 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 Sutherlin Average
Sutherlin Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Sutherlin
- ●One soil character for all of Sutherlin
- ●Frost dates read at Sutherlin's scale: Feb 23 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sutherlin's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sutherlin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sutherlin, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sutherlin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sutherlin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sutherlin average
How we know this about Sutherlin
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 Sutherlin
When does frost risk typically end in Sutherlin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sutherlin 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 Sutherlin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sutherlin 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 Sutherlin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sutherlin 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 Sutherlin?
The federal record around Sutherlin is a meaningful one — 106 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (74), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Sutherlin?
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 Sutherlin's scale — its 9a band and its 277-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sutherlin'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 Sutherlin’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Sutherlin's own scale — the 3,912 acres it covers and 106 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sutherlin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 106 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sutherlin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sutherlin's boundary and the 3,912 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Sutherlin 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 — Sutherlin 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 Sutherlin's 3,912 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 Sutherlin's 3,912 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sutherlin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,912 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Sutherlin-wide figureread your own land →
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