Lake Morton-Berrydale, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lake Morton-Berrydale, 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 Lake Morton-Berrydale 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 Lake Morton-Berrydale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lake Morton-Berrydale — the short answer
Lake Morton-Berrydale, Washington: USDA zone 8b, about 252 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 14
- King County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 21
- King County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~252
- King County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 8K 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 King County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lake Morton-Berrydale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Morton-Berrydale's 252-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Morton-Berrydale
Each reading below is measured for Lake Morton-Berrydale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLake Morton-Berrydale runs about 252 days between hard freezes (read from King County, the closest normal to Lake Morton-Berrydale) — 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
MeasuredLake Morton-Berrydale 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 Lake Morton-Berrydale is in
Lake Morton-Berrydale sits in the Puget Lowland — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Lake Morton-Berrydale's own centroid rather than borrowed from King County.
What Grows in Lake Morton-Berrydale
Every plant below cleared Lake Morton-Berrydale's own zone 8b and its 252-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Morton-Berrydale?
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 Feb 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 14 (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. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Lake Morton-Berrydale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Morton-Berrydale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CREST AIRPARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- COVINGTON WATER DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- KING COUNTY FIRE DISTRICT 44Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 21N/05E-12L02 SU-020Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- COVINGTON PRINT479 LS49 4TH SUB MP95Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 22N/05E-36M01Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- US DOE BPA COVINGTON SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- US DOE BPA COVINGTON SUBSTATIONSuperfund · 1.3 mi
- COVINGTON SUBSTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- BROOKSIDE DELI & GAS 619Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- COSTCO WHOLESALE 1029Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- COSTCO GASOLINE 1029Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Morton-Berrydale'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 Lake Morton-Berrydale.
Total Sites
1,164
within ~10 miles of Lake Morton-Berrydale
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Morton-Berrydale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Morton-Berrydale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Morton-Berrydale, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 81 sites within ~10 miles of Lake Morton-Berrydale. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Lake Morton-Berrydale
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 Lake Morton-Berrydale average
Your land is one point inside Lake Morton-Berrydale
Everything above resolves to Lake Morton-Berrydale as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 8K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from King 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 Lake Morton-Berrydale Average
Lake Morton-Berrydale Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lake Morton-Berrydale
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Morton-Berrydale
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Morton-Berrydale's scale: Mar 14 to Nov 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Morton-Berrydale's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Morton-Berrydale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Morton-Berrydale, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Morton-Berrydale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Morton-Berrydale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Morton-Berrydale average
How we know this about Lake Morton-Berrydale
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 King 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 Lake Morton-Berrydale
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Morton-Berrydale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Morton-Berrydale typically lands around Mar 14, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Lake Morton-Berrydale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Morton-Berrydale 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 252 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Morton-Berrydale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Morton-Berrydale sees about 252 frost-free days — roughly Mar 14 through Nov 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 4 to Nov 7, about 217 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Morton-Berrydale?
The federal record around Lake Morton-Berrydale runs heavier than most — 1,164 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (664), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lake Morton-Berrydale?
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 Lake Morton-Berrydale's scale — its 8b band and its 252-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Morton-Berrydale'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 Lake Morton-Berrydale’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lake Morton-Berrydale's own scale — the 7,887 acres it covers and 1,164 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Morton-Berrydale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 1,164 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Morton-Berrydale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Morton-Berrydale's boundary and the 7,887 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~252-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Morton-Berrydale's own centroid, the Puget LowlandUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lake Morton-Berrydale has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom King County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Morton-Berrydale's 7,887 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom King County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom King 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 King County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Morton-Berrydale's 7,887 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Morton-Berrydale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,887 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 Lake Morton-Berrydale-wide figureread your own land →
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