Clarkston, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Clarkston, 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 Clarkston 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 Clarkston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clarkston — the short answer
Clarkston, Washington: USDA zone 7b, about 260 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~260
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 7b is Clarkston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clarkston's 260-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Clarkston
Each reading below is measured for Clarkston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredClarkston runs about 260 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
MeasuredClarkston sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Clarkston is in
Clarkston sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Clarkston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Asotin County.
What Grows in Clarkston
Every plant below cleared Clarkston's own zone 7b and its 260-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clarkston?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Clarkston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clarkston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHEVRON 99822Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- EQUIPMENT SHOP/POE ASPHALTUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- CITY MOTOR COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- BARTHOLOMEW OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CLARKSTON FIRE DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- DOMESTIC DRY CLEANERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CLARKSTON FIRE DEPARTMENTBrownfields · 1500 ft
- CITY MOTOR COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CIRCLE K 1095Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- FRANKS EXXON SERVICE OUT OF BUSINESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- HAY'S PRODUCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- E-Z RENTALS COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clarkston'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 Clarkston.
Total Sites
339
within ~10 miles of Clarkston
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clarkston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clarkston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Clarkston, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Clarkston — CAFO (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (222 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Clarkston
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 Clarkston average
Your land is one point inside Clarkston
Everything above resolves to Clarkston 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 city 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 Clarkston Average
Clarkston Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Clarkston
- ●One soil character for all of Clarkston
- ●Frost dates read at Clarkston's scale: Feb 28 to Nov 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clarkston's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clarkston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clarkston, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clarkston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clarkston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clarkston average
How we know this about Clarkston
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Clarkston’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Clarkston
When does frost risk typically end in Clarkston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clarkston typically lands around Feb 28, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Clarkston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clarkston typically arrives around Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 1, so the watching starts about Oct 16 — about 260 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Clarkston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clarkston sees about 260 frost-free days — roughly Feb 28 through Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 21 to Nov 1, about 225 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clarkston?
The federal record around Clarkston is a meaningful one — 339 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (222), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Clarkston?
From about Oct 16 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Clarkston's scale — its 7b band and its 260-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clarkston'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 Clarkston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Clarkston's own scale — its own ~260-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,316 acres it covers and 339 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clarkston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Clarkston's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Feb 28 and Nov 15 and the ~260-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 339 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clarkston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clarkston's boundary and the 1,316 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~260-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Clarkston's own centroid, the Columbia PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Clarkston's 1,316 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Asotin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Asotin 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 Asotin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clarkston's 1,316 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clarkston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,316 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Clarkston-wide figureread your own land →