Raymond, 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.
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 Raymond, 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 Raymond 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 Raymond — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Raymond — the short answer
Raymond, Washington: USDA zone 8b, about 207 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- 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
- City 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 Pacific County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Raymond's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Raymond's 207-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Raymond
Each reading below is measured for Raymond itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsRaymond runs about 207 days between hard freezes (read from Pacific County, the closest normal to Raymond) — 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
MeasuredRaymond 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 Raymond is in
Raymond sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Raymond's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pacific County.
What Grows in Raymond
Plants matched to Raymond'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 Raymond?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Raymond
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Raymond. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY PUBLIC WORKS DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- 101 SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- RAYMOND COUNTY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- RAYMOND EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CITY LAUREL AVENUE PUMPING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- WEYERHAEUSER CO RAYMOND LUMBERMILLBrownfields · 1700 ft
- WEYERHAEUSER CO RAYMOND LUMBERMILLToxics Release Inventory · 1700 ft
- 400 THIRD STUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- RAYMOND HEADQUARTERS AREA 3 SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- DICKS FOOD CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- WA AGR PACIFIC 2Brownfields · 2200 ft
- RAYMOND OPERATIONS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Raymond'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 Raymond.
Total Sites
39
within ~10 miles of Raymond
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Raymond
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Raymond
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Raymond, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 35 sites within ~10 miles of Raymond. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Raymond
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 Raymond average
Your land is one point inside Raymond
Everything above resolves to Raymond as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 3K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pacific County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 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 Raymond Average
Raymond Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Raymond
- ●One soil character for all of Raymond
- ●Frost dates read at Raymond's scale: Apr 5 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Raymond's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Raymond
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Raymond, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Raymond averages can't show:
We read public map data around Raymond — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Raymond average
How we know this about Raymond
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 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 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 Raymond
When does frost risk typically end in Raymond?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Raymond 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 Raymond?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Raymond 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 Raymond?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Raymond 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 Raymond?
The federal record around Raymond is light — 39 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (35), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Raymond?
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 Raymond's scale — its 8b band and its 207-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Raymond'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 Raymond’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Raymond's own scale — the 2,627 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Raymond's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Raymond, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Raymond's boundary and the 2,627 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Raymond's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Raymond 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 Raymond's 2,627 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 Raymond's 2,627 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Raymond you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,627 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Raymond-wide figureread your own land →
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