Wallowa, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Wallowa, 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 Wallowa 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 Wallowa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Wallowa — the short answer
Wallowa, Oregon: USDA zone 6a, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 391 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~156
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 391 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 6a is Wallowa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wallowa's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wallowa
Each reading below is measured for Wallowa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWallowa runs about 156 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
MeasuredWallowa sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Wallowa is in
Wallowa sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Wallowa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wallowa County.
What Grows in Wallowa
Every plant below cleared Wallowa's own zone 6a and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wallowa?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Wallowa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wallowa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY FIRE & MAINTENANCE SHOPSUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- MOFFIT BROS. TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- BILL'S HIGHWAY SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- HENDERSON FUEL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- GOEBEL'S LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- 01.00N/42.00E-14BANitrate · 1600 ft
- MCCOY FARMS, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- OR STATE FORESTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- WALLOWA COMPOUNDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- WALLOWA CLEANERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- GTE - WALLOWA CENTRAL OFFICE (5100-B01)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ROGGE LUMBER, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wallowa'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 Wallowa.
Total Sites
22
within ~10 miles of Wallowa
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wallowa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wallowa
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Wallowa
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 Wallowa average
Your land is one point inside Wallowa
Everything above resolves to Wallowa as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 391 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 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 Wallowa Average
Wallowa Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Wallowa
- ●One soil character for all of Wallowa
- ●Frost dates read at Wallowa's scale: May 1 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wallowa's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wallowa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wallowa, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wallowa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wallowa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wallowa average
How we know this about Wallowa
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 Wallowa’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 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 Wallowa
When does frost risk typically end in Wallowa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wallowa typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Wallowa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wallowa typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 156 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wallowa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wallowa sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 20, about 121 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wallowa?
The federal record around Wallowa is light — 22 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (16), 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 Wallowa?
From about Sep 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wallowa's scale — its 6a band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wallowa'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 Wallowa’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wallowa's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 391 acres it covers and 22 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wallowa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wallowa's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 4 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 22 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wallowa, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wallowa's boundary and the 391 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wallowa's own centroid, the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wallowa's 391 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wallowa County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wallowa 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 Wallowa County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wallowa's 391 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wallowa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 391 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 Wallowa-wide figureread your own land →
More in Oregon
Growing region
Nearby growing guides