Bow, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bow, 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 Bow 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 Bow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bow — the short answer
Bow, Washington: USDA zone 8b, about 251 days between hard freezes, across 747 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 15
- Skagit County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- Skagit County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~251
- Skagit County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 747 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 Skagit County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Bow's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bow's 251-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bow
Each reading below is measured for Bow itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBow runs about 251 days between hard freezes (read from Skagit County, the closest normal to Bow) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBow 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 Bow is in
Bow sits in the Puget Lowland — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Bow'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 Bow
Every plant below cleared Bow's own zone 8b and its 251-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bow?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Bow
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bow. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHUCKANUT VALLEY STORE & CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BOW COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ROCKIN R RANCHCAFO · 1.0 mi
- CRAIG MULLENCAFO · 1.5 mi
- TONY E GOODEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- EDISON SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- MORRISON LUMBER COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- WESEN DRY COWSCAFO · 1.7 mi
- WESEN FARMS INC - DAIRY FARMCAFO · 1.7 mi
- EDISON CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- HANSEN FARMS LP - DAIRY FARMCAFO · 1.9 mi
- WESEN ORGANICCAFO · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bow'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 Bow.
Total Sites
381
within ~10 miles of Bow
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bow
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bow
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bow, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bow — CAFO (25 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (27 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Bow
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 Bow average
Your land is one point inside Bow
Everything above resolves to Bow as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 747 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Skagit 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 Bow Average
Bow Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Bow
- ●One soil character for all of Bow
- ●Frost dates read at Bow's scale: Mar 15 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bow's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bow
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bow, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bow averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bow average
How we know this about Bow
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 Skagit 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 Bow
When does frost risk typically end in Bow?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bow typically lands around Mar 15, 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 Apr 5.
When is the first frost in Bow?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bow typically arrives around Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 7, so the watching starts about Oct 22 — about 251 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bow?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bow sees about 251 frost-free days — roughly Mar 15 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 5 to Nov 7, about 216 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bow?
The federal record around Bow is a meaningful one — 381 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (224), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Bow?
From about Oct 22 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bow's scale — its 8b band and its 251-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bow'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 Bow’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bow's own scale — the 747 acres it covers and 381 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bow's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 381 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bow, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bow's boundary and the 747 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~251-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bow 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 — Bow has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Skagit County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bow's 747 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 Bow's 747 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bow you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 747 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Bow-wide figureread your own land →
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