Ocean Park, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include kale, potato, garlic, and western red cedar; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ocean Park, 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 Ocean Park 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 Ocean Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ocean Park — the short answer
Ocean Park, Washington: USDA zone 9a, about 207 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 5
- Pacific County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- Pacific County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~207
- Pacific 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 Pacific County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Ocean Park's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ocean Park's 207-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ocean Park
Each reading below is measured for Ocean Park itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsOcean Park runs about 207 days between hard freezes (read from Pacific County, the closest normal to Ocean Park) — 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
MeasuredOcean Park sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Ocean Park is in
Ocean Park sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Ocean Park's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pacific County.
What Grows in Ocean Park
Plants matched to Ocean Park's USDA zones 9a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Ocean Park?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 5 (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 Ocean Park
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ocean Park. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 12N/11W-28G06 LBGW-28Nitrate · 650 ft
- 12N/11W-27M02Nitrate · 1900 ft
- 12N/11W-28R03 LBGW-30Nitrate · 2000 ft
- 12N/11W-28L01Nitrate · 2000 ft
- 12N/11W-27M01Nitrate · 2100 ft
- GUELFI'S WESTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 12N/11W-28P03 LBGW-29Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- JACK'S COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 12N/11W-28E01 LBGW-27Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- 12N/11W-33B03Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 12N/11W-27N04 LBGW-31Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- JOLLY ROGER PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ocean Park'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 Ocean Park.
Total Sites
102
within ~10 miles of Ocean Park
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ocean Park
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ocean Park
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ocean Park, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 84 sites within ~10 miles of Ocean Park. 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 Ocean Park
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 Ocean Park average
Your land is one point inside Ocean Park
Everything above resolves to Ocean Park as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pacific 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 Ocean Park Average
Ocean Park Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Ocean Park
- ●One soil character for all of Ocean Park
- ●Frost dates read at Ocean Park's scale: Apr 5 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ocean Park's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ocean Park
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ocean Park, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ocean Park averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ocean Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ocean Park average
How we know this about Ocean Park
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 Pacific 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 Ocean Park
When does frost risk typically end in Ocean Park?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ocean Park typically lands around Apr 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Ocean Park?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ocean Park 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 207 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ocean Park?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ocean Park sees about 207 frost-free days — roughly Apr 5 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 26 to Oct 15, about 172 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ocean Park?
The federal record around Ocean Park is a meaningful one — 102 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (84), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Ocean Park?
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 Ocean Park's scale — its 9a band and its 207-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ocean Park'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 Ocean Park’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Ocean Park's own scale — the 1,938 acres it covers and 102 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ocean Park's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 102 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ocean Park, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ocean Park's boundary and the 1,938 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Ocean Park's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ocean Park has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pacific County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ocean Park's 1,938 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pacific County
- The candidate plant list — Washington's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Washington
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pacific 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 Pacific County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ocean Park's 1,938 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ocean Park you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,938 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Ocean Park-wide figureread your own land →
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