Goldendale, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Goldendale, 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 Goldendale 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 Goldendale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Goldendale — the short answer
Goldendale, Washington: USDA zone 7a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 7a is Goldendale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Goldendale's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Goldendale
Each reading below is measured for Goldendale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGoldendale runs about 176 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredGoldendale sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Goldendale is in
Goldendale sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Goldendale's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Klickitat County is mostly Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Goldendale
Every plant below cleared Goldendale's own zone 7a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Goldendale?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Goldendale
Survey cells within 31 miles of Goldendale checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 562 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Goldendale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Goldendale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GOLDENDALE GLASSUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- COLUMBUS SQUAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- JACKPOT 104Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Hardies Car Wash and Detail ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- JACKS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- LAYMAN PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- GLENWOOD SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- TEMPLE DIST INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- KLICKITAT SCHOOL DISTRICT 402Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- TELFORD PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Goldendale'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 Goldendale.
Total Sites
58
within ~10 miles of Goldendale
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Goldendale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Goldendale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Goldendale, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 41 sites within ~10 miles of Goldendale. 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 Goldendale
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 Goldendale average
Your land is one point inside Goldendale
Everything above resolves to Goldendale 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 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 Goldendale Average
Goldendale Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Goldendale
- ●One soil character for all of Goldendale
- ●Frost dates read at Goldendale's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Goldendale's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Goldendale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Goldendale, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Goldendale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Goldendale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Goldendale average
How we know this about Goldendale
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 Goldendale’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 Goldendale
When does frost risk typically end in Goldendale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Goldendale typically lands around Apr 23, 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 May 14.
When is the first frost in Goldendale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Goldendale typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Goldendale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Goldendale sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 2, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Goldendale?
The federal record around Goldendale is a meaningful one — 58 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (41), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Goldendale?
From about Sep 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 Oct 16 (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 Oct 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Goldendale's scale — its 7a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Goldendale'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 Goldendale’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Goldendale's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,894 acres it covers and 58 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Goldendale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Goldendale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 16 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 58 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Goldendale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Goldendale's boundary and the 1,894 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Goldendale sits in the Columbia Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Goldendale checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Goldendale's 1,894 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Klickitat County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Klickitat 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 Klickitat County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Goldendale's 1,894 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Goldendale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,894 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Goldendale-wide figureread your own land →
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