The Owens Valley spans USDA hardiness zones 8a-8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A deep high-desert trough between the Sierra crest and the White Mountains — bright days, cold-air-pooling nights, and a frost-edged season that runs town by town down US-395. Crops well matched to these conditions include tomato, fig, california poppy, and grape — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
The Owens Valley spans California.
Your yard isn't all of the Owens Valley.
The Owens Valley spans USDA zones 8a-8b, but your parcel sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 Owens Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
The Owens Valley — the short answer
The Owens Valley: USDA zones 8a-8b, 196–273 frost-free days depending where in it you stand, in California.
- USDA zones
- 8a-8b
- USDA PHZM 2023, aggregated over the footprint
- Shortest season here
- 196 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020 — Bishop
- Towns
- 5
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Region type
- Town cluster
- Growable Ground growing-region registry
Region boundary: Growable Ground growing-region registry — curated county clusters, EPA Level III ecoregions, and town clusters drawn finer than any county. The season figure is this region's own record, measured across its 5 member towns, not a state or national average.
Hardiness Zone Range
The Owens Valley is not one growing season
One answer for the Owens Valley averages 5 towns whose growing seasons are 77 days apart — from 196 frost-free days in Bishop to 273 in Lone Pine. That is the same region, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your land sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 5 towns runs 215–259 days, with a median of 248 days — a 77-day span end to end.
Measured across 5 member towns, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. A member with no own record is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the region. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where the line runs inside the Owens Valley
The middle half of the Owens Valley runs 215–259 frost-free days, and 2 of its 5 towns sit outside that — 1 on the short side, 1 on the long. A regional planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 215 frost-free days
1 town
- Bishop · 196 days
The end of the region that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
215–259 frost-free days
3 towns
0 of 3 shown
The middle half of the region, and the part a single regional season describes well.
Over 259 frost-free days
1 town
- Lone Pine · 273 days
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each town is placed by its OWN 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a site within its town as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
What Grows in the Owens Valley
All 1 of the plants below that publish a season requirement clear even Bishop’s 196 frost-free days — so on season alone, this grid works at both ends of the region. The 77-day spread still decides how far past this list you can push, and how early you can start.
Plants matched to the Owens Valley's USDA zones 8a-8b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has across the region — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Native Plants of the Owens Valley
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in this region’s state, kept only where the published hardiness range meets the Owens Valley’s USDA zones 8a-8b — closest range match first. Presence is recorded by state, so a plant can be documented across the state and still be scarce in your corner of the region.
The ground around the Owens Valley
The USDA soil survey maps this ground county by county. These are those records weighted by land area across the county containing the Owens Valley — the ground the Owens Valley sits in, read at the only grain the survey publishes.
In the county containing the Owens Valley, the ground is predominantly Entisols, at 64% of mapped acres, followed by Aridisols (29%) and Mollisols (8%). Six soil orders appear in that record, which is the honest reason a regional soil answer only goes so far. The most extensive named soils are Brantel, Alamedawell, and Mazourka.
36% of those acres are well drained, and another 35% somewhat excessively drained, 8% somewhat poorly drained. Topsoil pH runs 7.0–8.2 in that county’s own record.
Soil order
Entisols
Drainage
Well drained
Topsoil pH
7.0–8.2
Hydric soils
4%
Soil changes across a driveway, so which of these your own ground sits on is a parcel question rather than a regional one. soil types explained.
USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access
What this means for growing in the Owens Valley
The soil survey reads this ground county by county, and the readings above are the record for the county containing the Owens Valley. Here is what they mean for a garden here — and the move an experienced grower makes about each one.
Drainage
From county records36% of the mapped acres across the county containing the Owens Valley are well drained — ground that drains quickly. The survey maps this ground county-wide, so it describes the setting the Owens Valley sits in rather than the valley floor alone.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
From county recordsTopsoil across the county containing the Owens Valley runs pH 7.0–8.2 — alkaline in the one record covering it.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across the Owens Valley — and how to grow with it.
Across Inyo County, which contains the Owens Valley, the federal record holds 1,182 documented sites, mostly Mining (811), Nitrate (186) and Brownfields (151).
That is the containing county's count — this region is a smaller piece of that ground, so it is context, not a reading of any one lot. Open the map outlined to the Owens Valley to see which records sit where you actually grow.
Sources Checked
Summed across the county containing the Owens Valley
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around the Owens Valley, Mining runs higher than the national average — 811 sites across the county containing the Owens Valley. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Your land is one point inside the Owens Valley
Everything above resolves to the Owens Valley as a whole — a footprint whose own towns record seasons 77 days apart, and hardiness across zones 8a-8b. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 region 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 regional average.
Your Lot vs the Owens Valley Average
Owens Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a-8b, averaged across Owens Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Owens Valley
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Owens Valley's 8a-8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in the Owens Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in the Owens Valley — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, contamination, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Owens Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around The Owens Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Owens Valley average
How we know this about the Owens Valley
The boundary: the region's own towns — a footprint finer than any county, because the county average would misread this microclimate. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one, and every figure on this page was measured over the towns inside it rather than borrowed from the state around it.
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, aggregated across the footprint; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each member’s own record; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above; the soil from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, read at each member county’s own record and weighted to this footprint by land area. Where a member carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Common questions about the Owens Valley
What hardiness zone is the Owens Valley?
The Owens Valley spans USDA hardiness zones 8a-8b, aggregated from the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 across the region's own towns. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 data.
How long is the growing season in the Owens Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, the Owens Valley's towns mostly run 215 to 259 frost-free days, median 248 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991–2020, over 5 member towns). That 44-day spread is the honest read — no single season describes 5 towns, and each town guide below carries its own.
When does frost risk end in the Owens Valley?
Across the Owens Valley, the middle half of member towns see their last 28°F hard freeze between Mar 6 and Apr 1 (median Mar 12), and their first fall freeze between Nov 2 and Nov 20. Those are hard freezes, not the last light frost: tender transplants wait for about Apr 2, and elevation decides which end of a 26-day spread you garden in.
What grows well in the Owens Valley?
The Owens Valley's conditions suit plants such as Tomato, Fig, California Poppy, Grape, Almond, Artichoke. What actually thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage — we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
How is the Owens Valley defined?
The Owens Valley is a true microclimate — smaller than the county that contains it, with a growing reality of its own. So this page is built from the region's own 5 towns, each carrying its own hardiness zone and frost record, rather than from a county average measured somewhere else.
Which states does the Owens Valley cover?
The Owens Valley spans California. Each state's full growing guide is linked on this page.
What other growing regions cover the same states?
Pacific Northwest, California Central Valley, Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, Sierra Nevada Foothills, and Sonoran Desert share at least one state with the Owens Valley. Growing regions overlap and interlock — a single address can sit inside more than one, which is why the precise read is always the parcel, not the region.
What this page reads at the Owens Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at the Owens Valley's own scale — the zone 8a-8b band across its footprint, a median 248-day season across its 5 towns and 1,182 documented federal contamination records across its one county, 1,182 of them in Inyo County alone; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- The USDA hardiness band 8a-8b aggregated across all 5 towns in the footprintUSDA PHZM 2023
- The boundary itself — the 5 towns this region is curated fromGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The growing character that makes this region distinct from the states it crossesGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The 28°F season across the footprint — the middle half of its 5 towns run 215 to 259 frost-free days, median 248NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- The federal contamination record over the whole footprint — 1,182 documented federal contamination records across its one county, 1,182 of them in Inyo County aloneEPA, USGS and USDA federal site records
- The soil order mix across the footprint — 64% Entisols, topsoil pH 7.0–8.2, area-weighted across its one mapped countyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
Inherited from a wider read
- The candidate plant list — its state's curated sets, merged and filtered to zones 8a-8bfrom California
What this page can’t tell you
- Which end of the 44-day range your ground sits at — 215 days at one extreme, 259 at the other, decided mostly by elevationfrost dates explained →
- Which of those soils your own ground sits on — the survey maps them county-wide, and they change across a drivewaysoil types explained →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on one specific lotwhy one lot differs from the next →
Explore the Owens Valley
State growing guides
Towns in this region
The county containing this region
Other growing regions across California
The maritime Northwest west of the Cascade crest — mild, wet winters and dry summers behind berries, tree fruit, and lush cool-season gardens. (Union of the west-side ecoregions.)
A vast flat alluvial trough with hot dry summers and rich soils — one of the most productive agricultural regions on earth, from almonds and stone fruit to row crops.
The cooler, wetter northern half of the Central Valley — rice, walnuts, tomatoes, and orchard fruit on rich alluvial bottomland.
The hot southern half of California's Central Valley — deep soils and intense sun behind almonds, stone fruit, grapes, and row crops at vast scale.
California's Gold Country foothills — rocky, well-drained slopes and warm days that suit wine grapes, olives, and Mediterranean orchard crops.
A warm desert of saguaro and palo verde with mild winters that allow desert citrus, dates, and prickly pear alongside intensive irrigated gardening.