Fruit Trees for Bend, Redmond, Sisters and Central Oregon

On December 8, 2013, the Sisters station read −28°F and the Redmond airport −27°F. Bend, higher than either one, bottomed out at −15°F, and the Three Creeks Meadow station, up at 5,690 feet, read −5°F. Cold here doesn't follow elevation. It follows the places where still air can settle, and that's what decides fruit trees for Bend, Redmond, Sisters and Central Oregon.

This map covers the middle of Deschutes County in the Oregon High Desert: Bend and its neighborhoods, Tumalo and the plateau out to Redmond, Terrebonne and Smith Rock, and Sisters and Cloverdale. Type your address in the box on the map to get the number for your own place, and the list of what we sell that has come through it.

How to read this map

The number on the map is the 30-year planning low, the number to plan for at that spot. Our cold hardiness calculator uses it, it leans to the safe side, and it isn't the record. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones. "Typical winter" is an average year's coldest night, the kind of number USDA zones are built on, which is why USDA calls Bend 6b and we put downtown in 4b. The spring layer shows how many degrees warmer or colder each spot runs than downtown Bend on a still, clear night at bloom.

The middle of the map's growing ground plans for −19°F, and half of it falls between −21°F and −18°F (MFTC 4b and 5a). The warm end is the buttes and hillsides: Awbrey Butte plans for −14°F (MFTC 5b), and the warmest twentieth of the ground runs −15°F or better. The cold end is Sisters at −26°F (MFTC 4a), with the coldest twentieth of the ground at −24°F or worse. Downtown Bend, the reference point, plans for −20°F (MFTC 4b, right on the line with 5a), with a typical winter around −4°F.

Why the map looks the way it does

The ground climbs from about 2,870 feet at Terrebonne to 3,060 at Redmond, 3,180 at Sisters and 3,650 at Bend. If cold followed height, Bend would be the cold town. It isn't, because on a clear, calm night the cold is made on the ground as it radiates heat to the sky, then slides downhill and sits wherever the land is flat with no quick way out. Since 1995 the Bend station's average winter low is about −2°F and the Redmond airport's about −5°F, but in the big outbreaks the gap blows open, as on January 5, 2017: +3°F at Bend, −14°F at the airport.

Bend sits where the Cascades' east slope runs out onto the lava plateau. Buttes and lava benches break up the city (Pilot Butte stands about 500 feet above the plain), and the Deschutes cuts north through the middle. Cold drains off the high ground into the river corridor and moves on downriver, so Bend's cold ground is a narrow strip: Southern Crossing's river bottom plans for −21°F and downtown −20°F, while the benches around town run −17°F. The long-record Bend station sits on ground the map reads at −17°F, so its numbers look mild; Bend's airport station, lower at 3,460 feet, hit −22°F in the 2013-14 winter, 7°F colder than anything the Bend station has recorded since 1995.

Redmond sits about 600 feet lower on the broad, nearly flat plateau to the north, where cold drains in from higher ground and spreads out with no quick exit; a wide, shallow stretch like that can pool harder than a deep valley that drains. North of Redmond the canyons give the cold an outlet: the Crooked River runs about 600 feet below the cliffs at Smith Rock and about 300 feet down in its gorge at Peter Skene Ogden. A slope is only as good as its outlet. Terrebonne plans for −17°F, and the Haystack station just past the north edge gets 153 frost-free days to the Redmond airport's 85.

Sisters is cold all the way across: the floor runs −26°F and even the benches −24°F. It sits at the foot of the mountains where Whychus Creek comes down off Broken Top and Indian Ford Creek comes in from the Black Butte country, and on calm nights the mountains' cold slides down those drainages and spreads over the flats. Sisters runs 4°F colder than both Bend and the Redmond airport in the median year, and the Colgate fire-weather station, on the flats about 3 miles northwest of town, gets just 29 frost-free days (last 32°F on July 5, first fall 32°F on July 31).

Above the floor the cold lets go. The morning Sisters read −28°F, Tumalo Ridge (4,000 feet, west of Bend) read −11°F. Just south of the map, the Lava Butte station, on a cinder cone about 500 feet above Sunriver, read −7°F to Sunriver's −27°F, and it gets 115 frost-free days to Sunriver's 44. A Hungarian study of 69 clear, calm nights found a valley floor averaged 6.7°F colder than a slope 230 feet higher; on the bad nights here the gap runs 20°F or more.

Mirror Pond and the river don't warm the lots along them (too little water to store much heat), and town heat, capped at 2.5°F on the map, mostly lands on that same low floor. And the gap between towns isn't fixed: on January 31, 1950, Bend read −26°F and the Redmond airport −24°F. Arctic air that arrives on a wind fills everything evenly, while calm, clear nights sort the cold by terrain, and that's the pattern on this map.

Downtown Bend, Old Bend and the river corridor

Old Bend, the south-central core, sits only 40 feet above the river floor and plans for −20°F (MFTC 5a, right on the line with 4b), typical winter around −4°F. Around downtown the floor runs −20°F and the benches −17°F. Southern Crossing, the district that spans the Deschutes, plans for −21°F on the river bottom and reads 8°F colder than downtown at bloom, the worst spring reading in Bend. River West, in a draw along the west bank, plans for −19°F (MFTC 5a) and reads 4°F colder. Since 1995 the Bend station hasn't recorded colder than −15°F, yet downtown plans for −20°F, because the river floor is colder ground than the station's.

Here a tree rated −25°F or colder lives, and bloom decides the crop. In Southern Crossing and River West, plant Honeycrisp and Liberty apples, the Evan's Bali tart cherry, Mount Royal plum and Honeyberry, and leave apricots and peaches for higher ground. Downtown lots handle Seckel pear and Italian plum; a south wall helps the tree in winter but pushes bloom earlier.

Awbrey Butte, Summit West and Bend's west side

Awbrey Butte is the warmest named place on the map. The neighborhood point, at 4,133 feet on a 16 percent slope 640 feet above the river floor, plans for −14°F (MFTC 5b), with a typical winter around 1°F, and reads 14°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Cold doesn't stop on a slope that steep. The Lair, on the hill west of Century West, also plans for −14°F and reads about 8°F warmer in spring; the Tumalo Ridge station, at 4,000 feet west of town, hasn't seen colder than −11°F in its records, which start in 2003. Summit West (along Shevlin Park Road, −17°F) and Century West (along Century Drive, −18°F) are winter-warm but only even with downtown at bloom, sitting in the path of cold sliding off the Cascade slope toward the river.

Awbrey Butte and The Lair are the place for early bloomers: Sungold, Harlayne and Chinese Apricot, Lapins, Rainier and Stella sweet cherries, and Contender and Blushingstar peaches. Give them an east or north face; OSU says stay off west and south exposures, which bloom earlier.

East and south Bend: the Orchard District to Deschutes River Woods

The Orchard District (Midtown) is named for a failed 1930s experiment testing the area's farm potential with apples, though it's some of the better spring ground in town. It runs from the BNSF tracks and the Parkway east to Pilot Butte, mostly big lots with 1950s to 1970s ranch houses. Its point, on a bench 150 feet above the floor, plans for −18°F (MFTC 5a) and reads 6°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Stanley and Italian plums, D'Anjou and Seckel pears and Lapins all fit on those lots.

The rest of east Bend runs −17°F to −19°F: Stone Creek −17°F (4°F warmer than downtown in spring), Southeast Bend −18°F (2°F warmer), Mountain View and Larkspur −19°F (3°F and 1°F warmer), Boyd Acres −19°F (about 1°F colder). The Old Farm District plans for −19°F but reads 3°F colder at bloom. It's low, flat ground where spring cold settles, so skip apricots and nectarines there and lean on Honeycrisp, Liberty, Luscious pear and Mount Royal. To the south the ground climbs: Southwest Bend plans for −18°F, River Rim (about 3,850 feet) −17°F and Deschutes River Woods (about 3,920 feet) −17°F, all within 2°F of downtown at bloom.

Past them, toward Sunriver, the river flats turn cold fast. Sunriver hit −27°F on December 8, 2013, and The Bulletin called it the coldest area in Central Oregon in December 2016, a month with about 30 inches of snow there (fresh snow makes the air over it colder). Ask Extension told a Three Rivers grower to plan for zone 3 to 4 at best. Down there, build on Kerr, Trailman and Honeyberry.

Tumalo, Deschutes and Redmond

Tumalo (once called Laidlaw) sits on the Deschutes floor about 430 feet below downtown Bend, and plans colder: −22°F (MFTC 4b), typical winter −5°F, and 3°F colder than downtown at bloom. The river brings Bend's cold north, and Tumalo Creek comes in from the Mount Bachelor country 3 miles south of town, its mouth reading 5°F colder than downtown in spring. Around Tumalo the floor runs −22°F and the benches −19°F. Deschutes, on US 97, plans for −21°F with benches at −18°F, and the Bend 7 NE station out on the plateau (3,360 feet) has a 30-year number of −21°F and a record of −23°F. Use the floor list below here; Toka and Superior make a good plum pair (Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior, and our pollination maps show the rest).

Redmond, 17 miles north of Bend on the plateau east of the river, plans for −21°F (MFTC 4b), with a typical winter around −4°F, and reads 1°F colder than downtown Bend at bloom. Even the benches near town only reach −19°F; the plateau is too flat for much warm ground.

West of town the Deschutes runs past Eagle Crest and Cline Falls in a basalt gorge. Up on the rising ground west of the river and south of OR 126, OpenStreetMap lists Scenic Ridge, Desert Sky, Vista Rim and Highland Park, 270 to 320 feet above the floor. They plan for −17°F (MFTC 5a) and read 8°F to 10°F warmer than downtown Bend at bloom, the best spring ground on the north half of the map. That's where to try Westcot and Sungold apricots, Lapins and Gold cherries, and Contender.

Terrebonne, Smith Rock and the north end

Terrebonne, on US 97 about 6 miles north of Redmond with Smith Rock 3 miles east, plans for −17°F (MFTC 5a) on bench ground 130 feet above the local floor, typical winter around 0°F, and reads 5°F warmer than downtown Bend at bloom. The floor around it runs −20°F, and Prineville Junction, on a bench, −19°F. OSU rates Terrebonne and Crooked River Ranch (down between the rivers at about 2,795 feet) zone 4 to 5 when the rest of the area gets 3 to 5, and the Haystack station just north of the map read −13°F the morning the Redmond airport read −27°F. East of town the land drops: O'Neil, right on the floor, plans for −21°F, and Forest Crossing, in a draw at 2,775 feet, −20°F with a spring reading 8°F colder than downtown Bend.

On the Terrebonne bench, Contender, Lapins, Rainier, Harlayne, Italian and D'Anjou fit. Siberian C peach clears the cold easily but ripens very late, a gamble in a short season. Down at O'Neil and Forest Crossing, stick to apples, plums and bush fruit.

Sisters, Cloverdale and the Indian Ford country

Sisters sits at about 3,180 feet at the foot of the Three Sisters, downtown along Cascade Avenue where US 20 and OR 126 merge, with Whychus Creek along its southeast side. The town plans for −26°F (MFTC 4a), with a typical winter around −6°F. The floor runs −26°F, the benches −24°F and even the warmest tenth of the ground −23°F, so you can ease the cold here but not escape it. The Sisters station has hit −28°F three times (January 22, 1962, December 10, 1972 and December 8, 2013). Cloverdale, on low ground east of town, plans for −24°F (MFTC 4b). The Colgate flats northwest of town, toward Black Butte Ranch, read −22°F, and the station there has the shortest season on the map.

The spring layer reads Sisters only 2°F colder than downtown Bend, because it measures local drainage on a still night and can't see the area-wide cold the Sisters station records. Trust the station dates: Sisters' median last frost comes July 1, 18 days after Bend's, and it gets 52 frost-free days. With −28°F records and that season, plant the −35°F list and colder: Kerr, Trailman and Centennial applecrabs, Norland and Parkland apples, Evan's Bali, Brookgold and Brookred plums, Honeyberry, Montana Black Currant, Pixwell gooseberry and Nanking Cherry.

Spring frost and bloom in the High Desert

Frost can come in any month here; on the 1853 railroad survey Lt. Henry Abbot logged sunrise readings as low as 15°F on several summer mornings. NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F at May 12 at Haystack, June 13 at Bend, June 17 at the Redmond airport, July 1 at Sisters and July 5 at Colgate. For bloom the 28°F dates matter more, since open blossoms of apple, pear, cherry, peach, apricot and plum all start dying near 28°F (Michigan State Extension's figure). The median last 28°F runs from April 21 at Haystack and May 7 at Bend to May 23 at the Redmond airport, June 1 at Sisters and June 12 at Colgate, about seven weeks from one end of this country to the other.

The spring layer follows the winter drainage, only stronger: the buttes, The Lair and the hills west of the river near Redmond read 8°F to 14°F warmer than downtown, the Orchard District and Terrebonne 5°F to 6°F warmer, and the river bottoms and draws 3°F to 8°F colder. That's a still, clear night; in a windy freeze the hills won't be warmer.

Amy Jo Detweiler, OSU's horticulturist in Redmond, told The Bulletin that cold injury to swelling buds after a warm spell matters more here than frost on open blossoms. Pick late-blooming varieties, she says; nectarines and apricots bloom earlier and get hit more often. Frost cloth of 0.5, 0.9 and 1.5 ounces per square yard gains about 4°F, 6°F and 8°F (Alabama Extension's figures). Soak sandy ground a day or two before a frost night (moist soil stores more heat) and mow short through bloom. A Baker City grower sprinkled blooming apricots through 26°F to 28°F nights and still got a light set (the La Grande, Baker City and Wallowa map covers that country).

Losing bloom isn't losing the crop. Minnesota's fruit people figure about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set, and fully open haskap flowers take 19°F. Our rule of thumb: unless the fruit is clustered (cherries, grapes), most fruit can lose 50 percent or more of its blossoms with negligible effect. Tender stuff doesn't forgive: one Bend grower watched spring frosts kill fig, persimmon and kolomikta kiwi leaves year after year.

What the weather records say

NOAA station records on the map: the Redmond airport −28°F (December 8, 1972), Sisters −28°F (three times), the old Redmond 2 W station −27°F (December 8, 1972), Bend −26°F (February 9, 1933 and January 31, 1950, in 107 years on file), Colgate and Bend 7 NE −23°F (December 2013), Three Creeks Meadow −16°F (December 20, 1998) and Tumalo Ridge −11°F.

Most of those records are December readings, and December 8 alone brought big outbreaks in 1972, 2009 and 2013. Cold that comes before trees finish hardening off kills at temperatures a January tree shrugs off. On November 15, 1955, Bend and the Redmond airport both hit −14°F, and that same cold killed fruit trees around Yakima at −3°F (the Yakima and Ellensburg map has that story). So taper water from mid-August and skip late nitrogen.

USDA's 2023 map puts Bend in zone 6b (6a in 1990), built on the average winter's coldest night; Bend's typical winter around −4°F matches. We plan on the bad night, which puts downtown in MFTC 4b, most benches in 5a and Sisters in 4a. NOAA station records show the worst night in about 30 winters runs a median 13°F below a station's average winter low. OSU calls the USDA map oversimplified here and tells growers to plan for zone 3 to 5; our numbers land inside that.

What you can grow in Bend, Redmond and Sisters

OSU ranks reliability here as apples, then pears, plums and sour cherries, with peaches, apricots and sweet cherries less dependable. Our ratings are the coldest each plant has come through, so read them straight against the map.

Buttes, hillsides and warm benches: −14°F to −18°F

Awbrey Butte, The Lair, the Orchard District, Stone Creek, River Rim, the hills west of the river near Redmond, and Terrebonne. Everything rated −25°F or colder has room here.

• Apples: Honeycrisp, Liberty, Lodi and Red McIntosh, OSU's own Central Oregon picks.
• Pears and plums: D'Anjou, Seckel, Bartlett, Italian, Stanley, Shiro and Mirabelle de Bitterroot.
• Cherries: Lapins, Rainier and Stella sweet cherries (Lapins and Gold are the hardiest sweet cherries we've found), and Montmorency and Danube tart cherries.
• Apricots and peaches, best spring ground only: Sungold, Harlayne, Chinese Apricot, Contender (the only commercial peach we know of that has taken −32°F) and Blushingstar (−25°F at our place in January 2024, no damage).

The Bend floor, Tumalo, Deschutes and Redmond: −19°F to −22°F

Downtown and the river corridor, Boyd Acres, Mountain View, the Old Farm District, Tumalo, Deschutes, Redmond and O'Neil. The Redmond airport's −27°F and −28°F say plant the main trees from the −30°F list and colder.

• Apples: Honeycrisp, Haralson, Spartan, Red McIntosh, Liberty and Zestar!®.
• Pears and plums: Luscious, Ure, Flemish Beauty, Bartlett, Mount Royal, Italian, and Toka with Superior.
• Cherries: Evan's Bali (good to at least −40°F to −45°F), Meteor and the Romeo dwarf cherry; Lapins only where the spring reading is decent.

Sisters, Cloverdale and the Colgate flats: −22°F to −26°F, short seasons

Plan to −28°F, since Sisters has been there three times, and around a 29-day to 52-day frost-free season.

• Applecrabs and apples: Kerr, Trailman, Centennial, Chestnut, Norland, Parkland and Honeycrisp. If you only plant one tree, make it Kerr or Trailman.
• Plums and cherries: Brookgold, Brookred, Toka, Evan's Bali and Nanking Cherry.
• Bush fruit: Honeyberry, Montana Black Currant (we've never seen winter damage on it), Red Lake currant, Pixwell gooseberry, Serviceberry and Boyne raspberry.

Soil, roots and site

Soils here are mostly coarse and sandy, low in organic matter, and shallow over lava. One Bend grower hit bedrock about 2 feet down, went to raised beds, and found M26 the smallest apple rootstock worth using and Gisela 5 the minimum for cherries. Test drainage before you plant (dig 2 feet, fill it, let it drain, refill it; under 10 hours is well drained), and OSU suggests one part aged compost to two parts native soil. Roots are the weak link in a dry winter with little snow: apple roots are seriously hurt near 10°F while the wood takes about −40°F, and dry soil means more root death. (Bud 118 has seen near −50°F at Ed Schultz's in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, with no damage, but under snow.) So mulch the roots and, as OSU says, soak trees every 6 to 8 weeks in dry winter spells when the ground isn't frozen. In summer, use drip.

Plant on a slope, off the river floor and off a windswept top; Montana State's rule is a 4 to 8 percent grade where cold won't settle, and an east-facing slope is ideal. OSU suggests the east side of the house for wind shelter, but don't run a hedge across the downhill side, where it dams cold air back into the trees. Codling moth is the main apple and pear pest (OSU's Project Happy Apples sends alerts timed to it), and deer need keeping out.

Fruit history in Central Oregon

Fruit never became an industry here. Deschutes County was built on lumber, ranching and farming, potatoes most of all. The history is mostly water: the first known farm canal on Tumalo Creek in 1883, Redmond platted in 1906 by a company that became part of the Central Oregon Irrigation District, and a Tumalo irrigation project abandoned by 1913. Backyard fruit is growing, and OSU's Project Happy Apples has signed up more than 1,100 growers since 2015. One Bend grower's 2016 to 2019 trial is the best local report we've seen: every apple did well, Honeycrisp bore the most, Contender on Lovell was very vigorous, Lapins on Colt reached 12 to 15 feet, Stanley bore heavily, and every currant did well, even in shade.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Bend, Oregon?

USDA's 2023 map puts Bend in zone 6b, built on an average winter's coldest night (about −4°F downtown). We plan for the bad night: downtown plans for −20°F (MFTC 4b), most benches −17°F to −18°F (5a) and Awbrey Butte −14°F (5b). OSU says plan for zone 3 to 5.

What zone is Redmond, Oregon?

One zone site lists Redmond as USDA 6b. Our planning low for town is −21°F (MFTC 4b), but the Redmond airport has hit −27°F (December 8, 2013) and −28°F (December 8, 1972), so plant trees rated −30°F or colder. Terrebonne, 6 miles north, plans for −17°F (MFTC 5a).

When is the last frost in Bend, Oregon?

NOAA station records put Bend's median last 32°F at June 13 (1991 to 2020), and one year in ten it comes after June 25. The last 28°F, where open blossoms start dying, comes around May 7. The Redmond airport runs later (June 17) and Sisters later still (July 1).

What fruit trees grow in Bend, Oregon?

Apples are surest, then pears, plums and tart cherries, plus currants, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries and serviceberries. OSU's apple picks (Honeycrisp, Liberty, Lodi and Red McIntosh) have all come through −30°F or colder, well past Bend's −20°F. Save sweet cherries, apricots and peaches for warm spring ground like Awbrey Butte.

Can you grow peaches in Bend?

The cold isn't the problem: Contender has come through −30°F, and Bend plans for −17°F to −20°F. Bloom frost and the short season are. OSU lists only Reliance, though one Bend grower's Contender on Lovell was very vigorous. Put a peach on your best spring ground, like Awbrey Butte, 14°F warmer than downtown at bloom.

Why is Sisters so cold?

Sisters sits nearly 500 feet lower than Bend at the foot of the Cascades, where cold air slides down Whychus Creek and Indian Ford Creek onto open flats and stacks up on calm nights. It runs about 4°F colder than Bend in the median year, has hit −28°F three times, and frosts about 18 days later in spring. The town plans for −26°F (MFTC 4a).

Warmer spots, colder spots

Here's the number to plan for at named places on the map, warmest first. Each one is the 1-in-30-year low for that spot: the cold hardiness calculator's number from the same weather stations, sharpened by our microclimate model for the ground right there. Zone is our MFTC zone, set by that one bad night, not by an average.

The weather stations behind it

These are the long-record stations in and around this map, with each one's own numbers since the winter of 1995-96. The last column is this map's 30-year number right at the station, which won't match the station exactly: it's a blend of the stations around it, the way the calculator works everywhere.

Source: NOAA records through ACIS, winters 1995-96 through 2025-26. What the "carried forward," "gaps filled" and AWOS rows mean is explained in how our microclimate maps work.