Wilbur, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Wilbur, 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 Wilbur 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 Wilbur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wilbur — the short answer
Wilbur, Washington: USDA zone 6b, about 152 days between hard freezes, across 844 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~152
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 844 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 Wilbur's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wilbur's 152-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wilbur
Each reading below is measured for Wilbur itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWilbur runs about 152 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
MeasuredWilbur 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 Wilbur is in
Wilbur sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Wilbur's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Wilbur
Every plant below cleared Wilbur's own zone 6b and its 152-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wilbur?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Wilbur
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wilbur. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LLEWELLYN FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- J H LLEWELLYN WAREHOUSE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- RICKARD T JONESUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- FOODMART #0270Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- RETTKOWSKI BROTHERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- LINCOLN COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- DICKS AUTOMOTIVE SECIALISTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- BODEAU BROSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CARL'S TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- COMINCO AMERICAN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- SECURITY PACIFIC BANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- ROBERTSON REPAIRBrownfields · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wilbur'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 Wilbur.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wilbur
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wilbur, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 37 sites within ~10 miles of Wilbur. 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 Wilbur
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 Wilbur average
Your land is one point inside Wilbur
Everything above resolves to Wilbur as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 844 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 Wilbur Average
Wilbur Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Wilbur
- ●One soil character for all of Wilbur
- ●Frost dates read at Wilbur's scale: May 8 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wilbur's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wilbur
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wilbur, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wilbur averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wilbur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wilbur average
How we know this about Wilbur
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 Wilbur’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 Wilbur
When does frost risk typically end in Wilbur?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wilbur typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Wilbur?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wilbur 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 152 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wilbur?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wilbur sees about 152 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 23, about 117 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wilbur?
The federal record around Wilbur is light — 46 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Wilbur?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wilbur's scale — its 6b band and its 152-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wilbur'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 Wilbur’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wilbur's own scale — its own ~152-day season between 28°F freezes, the 844 acres it covers and 46 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wilbur's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wilbur's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 7 and the ~152-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 46 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wilbur, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wilbur's boundary and the 844 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~152-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wilbur's own centroid, the Columbia PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wilbur's 844 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wilbur's 844 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wilbur you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 844 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Wilbur-wide figureread your own land →
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