Tetherow, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tetherow, 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 Tetherow 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 Tetherow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tetherow — the short answer
Tetherow, Oregon: USDA zone 6b, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Tetherow's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tetherow's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tetherow
Each reading below is measured for Tetherow itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTetherow runs about 147 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredTetherow 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 Tetherow is in
Tetherow sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Tetherow's own centroid rather than borrowed from Deschutes County.
What Grows in Tetherow
Every plant below cleared Tetherow's own zone 6b and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tetherow?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Tetherow
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tetherow. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TAM MCARTHUR LOOP MERCURY RESPONSESuperfund · 0.9 mi
- TWO OLD HIPPIESBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- EDGE AUTONOMY - BEND, ORBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- BEND BIOSCIENCE R&D INNOVATION LAB - DISTRICT 2Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- LAVA LAKE LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- BEND METRO PARK & RECREATIONAL DIST.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- OSU CASCADES CAMPUSBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- BEND DISTRICT SPRING RIVERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- SAFEWAY STORE NO 1888Brownfields · 1.8 mi
- REGNIER BROS INC - BLDG MATERIALSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- SICAMORE SEMICONDUCTORBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- SICAMORE SEMICONDUCTORToxics Release Inventory · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tetherow'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 Tetherow.
Total Sites
360
within ~10 miles of Tetherow
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tetherow
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tetherow
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tetherow, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Tetherow. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Tetherow
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 Tetherow average
Your land is one point inside Tetherow
Everything above resolves to Tetherow as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Tetherow Average
Tetherow Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Tetherow
- ●One soil character for all of Tetherow
- ●Frost dates read at Tetherow's scale: May 14 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tetherow's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tetherow
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tetherow, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tetherow averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tetherow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tetherow average
How we know this about Tetherow
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 Tetherow’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 Tetherow
When does frost risk typically end in Tetherow?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tetherow typically lands around May 14, 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 Jun 4.
When is the first frost in Tetherow?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tetherow typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tetherow?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tetherow sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 24, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tetherow?
The federal record around Tetherow is a meaningful one — 360 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (181), the nearest Superfund record about 0.9 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 gardeners stretch the season in Tetherow?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Tetherow rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Tetherow's scale — its 6b band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tetherow'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 Tetherow’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Tetherow's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,365 acres it covers and 360 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tetherow's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Tetherow's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 14 and Oct 8 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 360 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tetherow, the closest Superfund record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tetherow's boundary and the 1,365 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tetherow's own centroid, the Eastern Cascades Slopes and FoothillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tetherow's 1,365 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Deschutes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Deschutes 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 Deschutes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tetherow's 1,365 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tetherow you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,365 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 0.9 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 Tetherow-wide figureread your own land →