Alger, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Alger, 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 Alger 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 Alger — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Alger — the short answer
Alger, Washington: USDA zone 8b, about 261 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~261
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 8b is Alger's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alger's 261-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Alger
Each reading below is measured for Alger itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAlger runs about 261 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredAlger sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Alger is in
Alger sits in the Puget Lowland — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Alger's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Skagit County is mostly North Cascades. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Alger
Every plant below cleared Alger's own zone 8b and its 261-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Alger?
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 Feb 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 19 — 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 Alger
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Alger. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALGER FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- YOHANNEN PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ALGER EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ALGER CONTROL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- ALGER VIDEOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- ALGER SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- ALGER MAINTENANCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- 36N/04E-21K01Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- H C BRAWLEY BNB INC BACKHOEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- EBAN TWADDLE FARMCAFO · 2.7 mi
- OLYMPIC PIPE LINE COLONY CREEK PROJECTBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- MARK BLACKWOOD FARMCAFO · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Alger'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 Alger.
Total Sites
206
within ~10 miles of Alger
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Alger
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Alger
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Alger, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Alger — CAFO (25 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Alger
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 Alger average
Your land is one point inside Alger
Everything above resolves to Alger as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Alger Average
Alger Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Alger
- ●One soil character for all of Alger
- ●Frost dates read at Alger's scale: Mar 3 to Nov 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Alger's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Alger
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alger, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Alger averages can't show:
We read public map data around Alger — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alger average
How we know this about Alger
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 Alger’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 Alger
When does frost risk typically end in Alger?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alger typically lands around Mar 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 Mar 24.
When is the first frost in Alger?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Alger typically arrives around Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 5, so the watching starts about Oct 20 — about 261 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Alger?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alger sees about 261 frost-free days — roughly Mar 3 through Nov 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 24 to Nov 5, about 226 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alger?
The federal record around Alger is a meaningful one — 206 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (131), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Alger?
From about Oct 20 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 Nov 19 (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 Nov 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Alger's scale — its 8b band and its 261-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alger'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 Alger’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Alger's own scale — its own ~261-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,668 acres it covers and 206 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Alger's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Alger's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 3 and Nov 19 and the ~261-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 206 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Alger, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Alger's boundary and the 1,668 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~261-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Alger sits in the Puget Lowland — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Alger's 1,668 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Skagit County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Skagit County
- The growing challenges every Washington grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Washington
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Skagit County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alger's 1,668 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Alger you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,668 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Alger-wide figureread your own land →
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