Point Roberts, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, kale, potato, garlic, and western red cedar all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Point Roberts, 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 Point Roberts 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 Point Roberts — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Point Roberts — the short answer
Point Roberts, Washington: USDA zone 8b, about 131 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 29
- Whatcom County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- Whatcom County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~131
- Whatcom County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Whatcom County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Point Roberts's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Point Roberts's 131-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Point Roberts
Each reading below is measured for Point Roberts itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsPoint Roberts runs about 131 days between hard freezes (read from Whatcom County, the closest normal to Point Roberts) — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredPoint Roberts 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 Point Roberts is in
Point Roberts sits in the Puget Lowland — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Point Roberts's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Whatcom County is mostly North Cascades. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Point Roberts
Plants matched to Point Roberts's USDA zones 8b, 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 Point Roberts?
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 May 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Point Roberts
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Point Roberts. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- USA # 68405Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- POINT ROBERTS CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- DYLAN'S SHIPPING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- POINT ROBERTS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- POINT ROBERTS MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- CAN-AM PETROLEUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WHIDBEY TELEPHONE CO PT ROBERTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
Measured from Point Roberts'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 Point Roberts.
Total Sites
7
within ~10 miles of Point Roberts
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
7 underground storage tanks
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Point Roberts
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Point Roberts
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 Point Roberts average
Your land is one point inside Point Roberts
Everything above resolves to Point Roberts as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Whatcom 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 Point Roberts Average
Point Roberts Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Point Roberts
- ●One soil character for all of Point Roberts
- ●Frost dates read at Point Roberts's scale: May 29 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Point Roberts's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Point Roberts
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Point Roberts, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Point Roberts averages can't show:
We read public map data around Point Roberts — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Point Roberts average
How we know this about Point Roberts
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 Whatcom 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 Point Roberts
When does frost risk typically end in Point Roberts?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Point Roberts typically lands around May 29, 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 Jun 19.
When is the first frost in Point Roberts?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Point Roberts typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 131 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Point Roberts?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Point Roberts sees about 131 frost-free days — roughly May 29 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 19 to Sep 23, about 96 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Point Roberts?
The federal record around Point Roberts is light — 7 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (7), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 gardeners stretch the season in Point Roberts?
With about 131 frost-free days between hard freezes, Point Roberts rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 159 to 187 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 29 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Point Roberts's scale — its 8b band and its 131-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Point Roberts'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 Point Roberts’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Point Roberts's own scale — the 3,126 acres it covers and 7 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Point Roberts's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 7 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Point Roberts, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Point Roberts's boundary and the 3,126 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Point Roberts sits in the Puget Lowland — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Point Roberts has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Whatcom County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Point Roberts's 3,126 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Whatcom 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 Whatcom 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 Whatcom County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Point Roberts's 3,126 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Point Roberts you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,126 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 Point Roberts-wide figureread your own land →
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