Waverly, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waverly, 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 Waverly 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 Waverly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Waverly — the short answer
Waverly, Washington: USDA zone 6b, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 264 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 264 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 6b is Waverly's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waverly's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waverly
Each reading below is measured for Waverly itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWaverly runs about 181 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWaverly sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Waverly is in
Waverly sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Waverly's own centroid rather than borrowed from Spokane County.
What Grows in Waverly
Every plant below cleared Waverly's own zone 6b and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waverly?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Waverly
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waverly. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HEART SEED COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- WAVERLY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- EARL CLAUSEN FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MCDONALD FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- FELARD FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- LASZ FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- FAIRFIELD GRAIN GROWERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- LARRY D CUPPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- CHARLES M KENOUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- FAIRFIELD STORAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- PAUL T DASHIELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- WHEATLAND PETROLEUM KEY LOCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waverly'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 Waverly.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waverly
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waverly
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waverly, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 54 sites within ~10 miles of Waverly. 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 Waverly
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 Waverly average
Your land is one point inside Waverly
Everything above resolves to Waverly as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 264 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 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 Waverly Average
Waverly Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Waverly
- ●One soil character for all of Waverly
- ●Frost dates read at Waverly's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waverly's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waverly
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waverly, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waverly averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waverly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waverly average
How we know this about Waverly
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 Waverly’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 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 Waverly
When does frost risk typically end in Waverly?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waverly typically lands around Apr 18, 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 May 9.
When is the first frost in Waverly?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waverly typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Waverly?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waverly sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 2, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Waverly?
The federal record around Waverly shows 68 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (54), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Waverly?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Waverly's scale — its 6b band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waverly'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 Waverly’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Waverly's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 264 acres it covers and 68 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waverly's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Waverly's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 16 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 68 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waverly, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waverly's boundary and the 264 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waverly's own centroid, the Columbia PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waverly's 264 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Spokane County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Spokane 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 Spokane County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waverly's 264 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waverly you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 264 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Waverly-wide figureread your own land →