Freeland, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Freeland, 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 Freeland 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 Freeland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Freeland — the short answer
Freeland, Washington: USDA zone 8b, about 292 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 8
- Island County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 27
- Island County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~292
- Island County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Island County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Freeland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Freeland's 292-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Freeland
Each reading below is measured for Freeland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFreeland runs about 292 days between hard freezes (read from Island County, the closest normal to Freeland) — 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
MeasuredFreeland 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 Freeland is in
Freeland sits in the Puget Lowland — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Freeland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Island County.
What Grows in Freeland
Every plant below cleared Freeland's own zone 8b and its 292-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Freeland?
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 Jan 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 27 — 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 Freeland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Freeland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FREELAND ORMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- NICHOLS BROS BOAT BUILDERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- ICE FLOE LLC DBA NICHOLS BROTHERSBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- 29N/02E-09Q01Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- SHORT STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #11645Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- SCOTTYS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- COREY OIL CARDLOCK & AUTO GLASSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- MUTINY BAY RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- WHIDBEY MARINE & AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- RAY & DELORES LAFAYETTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- FREELAND SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Freeland'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 Freeland.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Freeland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Freeland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Freeland, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 68 sites within ~10 miles of Freeland. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Freeland
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 Freeland average
Your land is one point inside Freeland
Everything above resolves to Freeland as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Island 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 Freeland Average
Freeland Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Freeland
- ●One soil character for all of Freeland
- ●Frost dates read at Freeland's scale: Feb 8 to Nov 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Freeland's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Freeland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Freeland, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Freeland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Freeland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Freeland average
How we know this about Freeland
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 Island 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 Freeland
When does frost risk typically end in Freeland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Freeland typically lands around Feb 8, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Freeland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Freeland typically arrives around Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 13, so the watching starts about Oct 28 — about 292 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Freeland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Freeland sees about 292 frost-free days — roughly Feb 8 through Nov 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 1 to Nov 13, about 257 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Freeland?
The federal record around Freeland is a meaningful one — 87 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (68), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Freeland?
From about Oct 28 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Freeland's scale — its 8b band and its 292-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Freeland'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 Freeland’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Freeland's own scale — the 2,483 acres it covers and 87 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Freeland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 87 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Freeland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Freeland's boundary and the 2,483 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~292-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Freeland's own centroid, the Puget LowlandUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Freeland has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Island County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Freeland's 2,483 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Island County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Island 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 Island County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Freeland's 2,483 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Freeland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,483 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Freeland-wide figureread your own land →