Artondale, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Artondale, 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 Artondale 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 Artondale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Artondale — the short answer
Artondale, Washington: USDA zone 8b, about 264 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 4
- Pierce County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- Pierce County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~264
- Pierce County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 9K 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 Pierce County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Artondale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Artondale's 264-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Artondale
Each reading below is measured for Artondale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsArtondale runs about 264 days between hard freezes (read from Pierce County, the closest normal to Artondale) — 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
MeasuredArtondale 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 Artondale is in
Artondale sits in the Puget Lowland — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Artondale's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Pierce County is mostly Cascades. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Artondale
Every plant below cleared Artondale's own zone 8b and its 264-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Artondale?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Artondale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Artondale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GIG HARBOR CITY OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- E BRUCE JOHNSON SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ARLETTA FOODSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 14307 67TH AVE NW GIG HARBORUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- ISLAND VIEW MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- GIG HARBOR WATER DEPTPFAS · 1.4 mi
- MINTER SALMON HATCHERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- KOPACHUCK STATE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- THE ROSEDALE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- G R GRAHAM SONS CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- Verdie ForsytheUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- 21N/01E-35D01Nitrate · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Artondale'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 Artondale.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Artondale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Artondale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Artondale, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Artondale — Superfund (11 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (353 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Artondale
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 Artondale average
Your land is one point inside Artondale
Everything above resolves to Artondale as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 9K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pierce County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’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 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 Artondale Average
Artondale Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Artondale
- ●One soil character for all of Artondale
- ●Frost dates read at Artondale's scale: Mar 4 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Artondale's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Artondale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Artondale, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Artondale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Artondale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Artondale average
How we know this about Artondale
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 Pierce 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 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 Artondale
When does frost risk typically end in Artondale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Artondale typically lands around Mar 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Artondale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Artondale typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 264 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Artondale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Artondale sees about 264 frost-free days — roughly Mar 4 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 25 to Nov 9, about 229 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Artondale?
The federal record around Artondale is a meaningful one — 534 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (353), 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 Artondale?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Artondale's scale — its 8b band and its 264-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Artondale'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 Artondale’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Artondale's own scale — the 8,561 acres it covers and 534 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Artondale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 534 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Artondale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Artondale's boundary and the 8,561 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~264-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Artondale sits in the Puget Lowland — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Artondale has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pierce County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Artondale's 8,561 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pierce County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pierce 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 Pierce County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Artondale's 8,561 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Artondale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,561 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 Artondale-wide figureread your own land →
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