It will be nothing like your experiences in Pennsylvania!! Bend is considered a high desert climate. Summers are hot and very dry (no humidity.....barely much annual rainfall!!) but cool down at night dramatically. There are huge diurnal temperature swings of as much as 65 degrees. And it is possible to have a hard frost in the middle of summer.

In fact, it might be discouraging to look at first and last frost dates for that area. As one site indicates, there is a risk of frost from August 17th through July 12, with a guaranteed frost free growing season of only 36 days!!

But it is beautiful country. I like the Bend area very much...........just not sure I would want to live there :-))

A very nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there either because of the limited gardening. I have only spent several months in that area over the last 40 years. Take a look on the other side of the Cascade Mountains in the Willamette Valley.

Doing a Google street view of Bend neighborhoods would reveal typical gardens there--more helpful if the street views are dated during the growing season.

Go with the Sunset depiction which is a climate portrait and not merely how cold it gets. The natural landscape and in particular the native vegetation in the vicinity of the town will also serve to give strong indications of what to expect.

My father lives in Redmond which is twenty minutes from Bend. His biggest complaint about gardening there is the rocky hard soil.