Lower Elochoman, 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 Lower Elochoman, 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 Lower Elochoman 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 Lower Elochoman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lower Elochoman — the short answer
Lower Elochoman, Washington: USDA zone 8b, about 249 days between hard freezes, across 967 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 13
- Wahkiakum County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 17
- Wahkiakum County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~249
- Wahkiakum County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 967 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 Wahkiakum County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Lower Elochoman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lower Elochoman's 249-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lower Elochoman
Each reading below is measured for Lower Elochoman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsLower Elochoman runs about 249 days between hard freezes (read from Wahkiakum County, the closest normal to Lower Elochoman) — 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
MeasuredLower Elochoman 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 Lower Elochoman is in
Lower Elochoman sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Lower Elochoman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wahkiakum County.
What Grows in Lower Elochoman
Every plant below cleared Lower Elochoman's own zone 8b and its 249-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lower Elochoman?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 17 — 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 Lower Elochoman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lower Elochoman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOWN OF CATHLAMET WTPBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- ROAD DEPT SHOP 1Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 08N/06W-02G01Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CATHLAMETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- BANK OF PACIFIC PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- WA DOT CATHLAMET MAINTENANCE SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- WAHKIAKUM REFRIGERATION COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- CATHLAMET CHEVRON AND RV PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- GRAGG'S GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- BRUSCO TUG AND BARGEBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- 09N/05W-32C02Nitrate · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lower Elochoman'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 Lower Elochoman.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of Lower Elochoman
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lower Elochoman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lower Elochoman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lower Elochoman, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Lower Elochoman. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Lower Elochoman
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 Lower Elochoman average
Your land is one point inside Lower Elochoman
Everything above resolves to Lower Elochoman as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 967 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Wahkiakum 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 Lower Elochoman Average
Lower Elochoman Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Lower Elochoman
- ●One soil character for all of Lower Elochoman
- ●Frost dates read at Lower Elochoman's scale: Mar 13 to Nov 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lower Elochoman's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lower Elochoman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lower Elochoman, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lower Elochoman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lower Elochoman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lower Elochoman average
How we know this about Lower Elochoman
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 Wahkiakum 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 Lower Elochoman
When does frost risk typically end in Lower Elochoman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lower Elochoman typically lands around Mar 13, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Lower Elochoman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lower Elochoman typically arrives around Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 3, so the watching starts about Oct 18 — about 249 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lower Elochoman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lower Elochoman sees about 249 frost-free days — roughly Mar 13 through Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 3 to Nov 3, about 214 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lower Elochoman?
The federal record around Lower Elochoman is light — 48 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (19), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lower Elochoman?
From about Oct 18 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lower Elochoman's scale — its 8b band and its 249-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lower Elochoman'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 Lower Elochoman’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Lower Elochoman's own scale — the 967 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lower Elochoman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lower Elochoman, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lower Elochoman's boundary and the 967 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~249-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lower Elochoman's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Lower Elochoman has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Wahkiakum County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lower Elochoman's 967 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wahkiakum County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wahkiakum 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 Wahkiakum County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lower Elochoman's 967 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lower Elochoman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 967 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Lower Elochoman-wide figureread your own land →