Toledo, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit kale, douglas fir, garlic, and hazelnut — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Toledo, 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 Toledo 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 Toledo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Toledo — the short answer
Toledo, Oregon: USDA zone 9b, about 308 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 3
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 8
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~308
- Lincoln County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Lincoln County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Toledo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Toledo's 308-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Toledo
Each reading below is measured for Toledo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsToledo runs about 308 days between hard freezes (read from Lincoln County, the closest normal to Toledo) — 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
MeasuredToledo sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Toledo is in
Toledo sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Toledo's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Toledo
Plants matched to Toledo's USDA zones 9b, 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 Toledo?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the calendar nearly circles: cool-season crops take the winter shift, and the next window is always close.
What's on the federal record near Toledo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Toledo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOLEDO SUBSTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- YAQUINA BOAT EQUIPMENTBrownfields · 1100 ft
- CITY OF TOLEDOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- S & K AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CITY OF TOLEDO PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- GEORGIA-PACIFIC TOLEDO LLCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- GEORGIA-PACIFIC TOLEDO LLCToxics Release Inventory · 2100 ft
- PLUM CREEK TIMBER‎Brownfields · 2100 ft
- PMK DISTRIBUTINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- TOLEDO WATER TREATMENT PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- TOLEDO CITY OF PUBLIC WORKSBrownfields · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Toledo'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 Toledo.
Total Sites
156
within ~10 miles of Toledo
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Toledo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Toledo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Toledo, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Toledo. 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 Toledo
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 Toledo average
Your land is one point inside Toledo
Everything above resolves to Toledo as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 1K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lincoln 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 Toledo Average
Toledo Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Toledo
- ●One soil character for all of Toledo
- ●Frost dates read at Toledo's scale: Feb 3 to Dec 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Toledo's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Toledo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Toledo, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Toledo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Toledo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Toledo average
How we know this about Toledo
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 Lincoln 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 Toledo
When does frost risk typically end in Toledo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Toledo typically lands around Feb 3, 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 Feb 24.
When is the first frost in Toledo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Toledo typically arrives around Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 24, so the watching starts about Nov 8 — about 308 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Toledo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Toledo sees about 308 frost-free days — roughly Feb 3 through Dec 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 24 to Nov 24, about 273 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Toledo?
The federal record around Toledo is a meaningful one — 156 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (91), 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 Toledo?
From about Nov 8 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 Dec 8 (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 Dec 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Toledo's scale — its 9b band and its 308-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Toledo'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 Toledo’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Toledo's own scale — the 1,423 acres it covers and 156 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Toledo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 156 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Toledo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Toledo's boundary and the 1,423 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Toledo's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Toledo has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lincoln County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Toledo's 1,423 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Toledo's 1,423 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Toledo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,423 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 Toledo-wide figureread your own land →