Mesa, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Mesa, 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 Mesa 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 Mesa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mesa — the short answer
Mesa, Washington: USDA zone 7a, about 220 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~220
- 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 7a is Mesa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mesa's 220-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mesa
Each reading below is measured for Mesa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMesa runs about 220 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredMesa 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 Mesa is in
Mesa sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Mesa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Franklin County.
What Grows in Mesa
Every plant below cleared Mesa's own zone 7a and its 220-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mesa?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Mesa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mesa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MESA CROSSROADS SERVICE STATION LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- MESA WATERMASTER HEADQUARTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- ANDREW SLINKARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- BOOKER FARM 5Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- 13N/30E-16Q01 PE26Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- 13N/30E-10R01Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- 12N/30E-05B01Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- J J DANZUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- FLETCHER CATTLE - CAMP FEEDLOTCAFO · 5.2 mi
- HERRMAN CONNELL PROPERTIESSuperfund · 5.7 mi
- CONNELL OIL INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- PUREGRO COMPANY MESAUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mesa'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 Mesa.
Total Sites
102
within ~10 miles of Mesa
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mesa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mesa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mesa, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 44 sites within ~10 miles of Mesa. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Mesa
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 Mesa average
Your land is one point inside Mesa
Everything above resolves to Mesa 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 Mesa Average
Mesa Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Mesa
- ●One soil character for all of Mesa
- ●Frost dates read at Mesa's scale: Mar 23 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mesa's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mesa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mesa, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mesa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mesa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mesa average
How we know this about Mesa
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 Mesa’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 Mesa
When does frost risk typically end in Mesa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mesa typically lands around Mar 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 Apr 13.
When is the first frost in Mesa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mesa typically arrives around Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 15, so the watching starts about Sep 29 — about 220 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mesa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mesa sees about 220 frost-free days — roughly Mar 23 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 13 to Oct 15, about 185 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mesa?
The federal record around Mesa is a meaningful one — 102 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (48), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Mesa?
From about Sep 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mesa's scale — its 7a band and its 220-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mesa'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 Mesa’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mesa's own scale — its own ~220-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,060 acres it covers and 102 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mesa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mesa's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 23 and Oct 29 and the ~220-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 102 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mesa, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mesa's boundary and the 1,060 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~220-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mesa's own centroid, the Columbia PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mesa's 1,060 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Franklin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Franklin 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 Franklin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mesa's 1,060 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mesa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,060 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Mesa-wide figureread your own land →
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