Wallowa Lake, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Wallowa Lake, 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 Lake 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 Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wallowa Lake — the short answer
Wallowa Lake, Oregon: USDA zone 6a, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- 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 6a is Wallowa Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wallowa Lake's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wallowa Lake
Each reading below is measured for Wallowa Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWallowa Lake 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
MeasuredWallowa Lake 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 Lake is in
Wallowa Lake sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Wallowa Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wallowa County.
What Grows in Wallowa Lake
Every plant below cleared Wallowa Lake's own zone 6a and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wallowa Lake?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Wallowa Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wallowa Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Old Time ProspectMining · 1.3 mi
- Old Timer ProspectMining · 1.3 mi
- WALLOWA LAKE STATE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- WALLOWA DRUMS CLEANUPSuperfund · 1.4 mi
- Kipp-Freeman ProspectMining · 2.1 mi
- Kipp-FreemanMining · 2.1 mi
- Joseph Mountain MineMining · 2.6 mi
- Joseph Mountain MinesMining · 2.6 mi
- BumperMining · 2.7 mi
- Bumber ProspectMining · 2.7 mi
- Miners BasinMining · 3.0 mi
- Gold Lode ClaimMining · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wallowa Lake'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 Lake.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wallowa Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wallowa Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wallowa Lake, Mining runs higher than the national average — 80 sites within ~10 miles of Wallowa Lake. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Wallowa Lake
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 Lake average
Your land is one point inside Wallowa Lake
Everything above resolves to Wallowa Lake 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 Wallowa Lake Average
Wallowa Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Wallowa Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Wallowa Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Wallowa Lake's scale: May 13 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wallowa Lake's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wallowa Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wallowa Lake, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wallowa Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wallowa Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wallowa Lake average
How we know this about Wallowa Lake
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 Wallowa Lake’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 Wallowa Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Wallowa Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wallowa Lake typically lands around May 13, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Wallowa Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wallowa Lake typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wallowa Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wallowa Lake sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 23, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wallowa Lake?
The federal record around Wallowa Lake is a meaningful one — 125 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (80), the nearest Mining record about 1.3 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 Wallowa Lake?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Wallowa Lake 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 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Wallowa Lake's scale — its 6a band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wallowa Lake'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 Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wallowa Lake's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,174 acres it covers and 125 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wallowa Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wallowa Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 13 and Oct 7 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 125 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wallowa Lake, the closest Mining record about 1.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wallowa Lake's boundary and the 1,174 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wallowa Lake's own centroid, the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wallowa Lake's 1,174 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 Lake's 1,174 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wallowa Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,174 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 1.3 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 Wallowa Lake-wide figureread your own land →
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