Sunset climate zones: Western Washington

To see a larger zone map, click the link under image.

ZONE 1A: Coldest mountain and intermountain areas of the contiguous states

Marked by a short growing season and relatively mild summer temperatures, Zone 1A includes the coldest regions west of the Rockies, excluding Alaska, and a few patches of cold country east of the Great Divide. The mild days and chilly nights during the growing season extend the bloom of summer perennials like columbines and Shasta daisies. If your garden gets reliable snow cover (which insulates plants), you’ll be able to grow perennials listed for some of the milder zones. In years when snow comes late or leaves early, protect plants with a 5- or 6-inch layer of organic mulch. Along with hardy evergreen conifers, tough deciduous trees and shrubs form the garden’s backbone. Gardeners can plant warm-season vegetables as long as they are short-season varieties. To further assure success, grow vegetables from seedlings you start yourself or buy from a nursery or garden center. Winter lows average in the 0 to 11°F (–18 to –12°C) range; extremes range from –25 to –50°F (–32 to –46°C). The growing season is 50 to 100 days.

ZONE 4: Cold-winter areas of the north coast and mild-winter areas of Alaska and British Columbia

One of the West’s most narrow, linear climates, Zone 4 runs from high in the coastal mountains of Northern California to southeastern Alaska, losing elevation as it moves north. It gets considerable influence from the Pacific Ocean, but also from the continental air mass, higher elevation, or both. As it extends north, the zone first touches salt water in northern Puget Sound and is almost entirely surrounded by salt water in southeastern Alaska. In the contiguous states, Zone 4 has more cold than neighboring Zone 5,more snow, and a shorter growing season. Compared to neighboring zones in Alaska and Canada, however, it has less winter cold and a longer growing season. No zone grows better perennials and bulbs; people who like woodland plants and rock plants love Zone 4. But beware: though you can grow winter vegetables in the southern part of Zone 4, it doesn’t get enough winter sunlight in Alaska to sustain them. Average winter lows in Zone 4 range from 34°F (1°C) down to 28°F (–2°C),with extreme lows averaging 8 to 0°F (–13 to –18°C). The growing season is 150 to 200 days long, but because Zone 4 summers are temperate (highs average from the low 60s to the 70s), plants take more time to develop. If you’re growing vegetables, for example, add at least 50 percent to the days-to-harvest figure listed on the seed package, or start your garden from transplants.

ZONE 5: Marine influence along the Northwest coast, Puget Sound, and South Vancouver Island

Mild ocean air moderates Zone 5, allowing it to produce some of the finest rhododendrons, Japanese maples, and rock garden plants anywhere.Heaths and heathers thrive in sandy soils along the coast and inland, and katsura trees reach their prime, rarely scorching as they may inland. It’s also fine country for native woodland ferns, trilliums, piggyback plants, vine maples, and dogwoods. Summer highs run between 65 and 70°F (18 and 21°C) along the coast, and between 70 and 75°F (21 and 24°C) inland and around Puget Sound. Such mild temperatures favor leaf vegetables, which are slow to bolt, and flowering ornamentals like begonias. Steady breezes and lower temperatures, especially along the coast,make windbreaks and warm microclimates critical for heat-loving plants.

Average January minimum temperatures range from 33 to 41°F (1 to 5°C),with annual lows averaging a few degrees colder, and 10-year extremes ranging from 20 to 6°F (–7 to –14°C). Some locations (Coupeville, Raymond, Long Beach, Tillamook, Newport) get 10-year lows between 6° and 10°F (-14° and –12°C), but much of the region, especially along the Oregon coast, is mild enough to let gardeners get away with growing plants like Washingtonia robusta and hardy forms of Agave americana. Big freezes do considerable damage when they come very early or very late. And while these occasional disasters clear the slate of most borderline plants, they should not serve as a general gauge of plant hardiness here. Though the growing season averages between 200 and 250 days, heat accumulation is low, and warm-season vegetables develop slowly.

ZONE 6: The Willamette and Columbia River Valleys 

Warmer summers and cooler winters distinguish Zone 6 from coastal Zone 5. Tucked between the Coast Range and the Cascades, Zone 6 includes the Willamette Valley in Oregon, the Columbia River Valley between Vancouver and Longview, and the Cowlitz drainage from Longview to Toledo.

The Coast Range buffers the impact of Pacific storms, but Zone 6 is still a maritime climate,with a long growing season (from 155 days at Cottage Grove to 280 days in Portland neighborhoods) and 40 to 55 inches of annual precipitation most places. The continental influence is felt two to four times each winter when chilly interior air flows west through the Columbia Gorge and produces wind and freezing rain clear to the Portland airport. In spite of this, Portland is among the mildest parts of Zone 6—a great place to experiment with borderline plants like eucalyptus, acacias, and oleanders. Summer temperatures in Zone 6 average 10 to 15°F (5 to 8°C) higher than those along the coast, while winters are cold enough to trigger good fruit set. Ten-year extremes average 0 to 10°F (–18 to –12°C). Warm summers and chilly winters make the Willamette Valley one of the West’s best-known growing areas for berries, hazelnuts, roses, flowering fruit trees, and broadleafed evergreens.

The Willamette Valley’s hills and small mountain ranges create many microclimates. South- and west-facing slopes are warm enough to produce world-class Pinot Noir grapes, while northand east-facing slopes are perfect for shade tolerant plants like rhododendrons, fatsias, and camellias. These hills have perfect air drainage, so winters get less frost than the valley floor.