Bullhead City, Arizona, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — palo verde, citrus, jalapeno, and date palm — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Bullhead City, 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 Bullhead City 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 Bullhead City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bullhead City — the short answer
Bullhead City, Arizona: USDA zone 10a, about 242 days between hard freezes, across 38K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 21
- Mohave County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 18
- Mohave County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~242
- Mohave County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 38K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Mohave County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Bullhead City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bullhead City's 242-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bullhead City
Each reading below is measured for Bullhead City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBullhead City runs about 242 days between hard freezes (read from Mohave County, the closest normal to Bullhead City) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBullhead City sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
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 Bullhead City is in
Bullhead City sits in the Mojave Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Bullhead City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mohave County.
What Grows in Bullhead City
Plants matched to Bullhead City's USDA zones 10a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Bullhead City?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Bullhead City
Survey cells within 31 miles of Bullhead City checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 203 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Bullhead City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bullhead City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RON LEWIS CONSTRUCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- WESTERN ARIZONA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- CTI INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- RIVER CITY CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- WESTERN ARIZONA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTERBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- MOHAVE COUNTY CENTRAL MOTORPOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- RUCKER MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- RAINBOW HAVEN MOBILE HOME PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- LOWES HIW 2202Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- MAVERIK COUNTRY STORE #356Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- MOBIL - E-Z SERVE (100811)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- FASTRIP FOOD STORE #7795Brownfields · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bullhead City'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 Bullhead City.
Total Sites
179
within ~10 miles of Bullhead City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bullhead City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bullhead City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bullhead City, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Bullhead City. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Bullhead City
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 Bullhead City average
Your land is one point inside Bullhead City
Everything above resolves to Bullhead City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 38K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Mohave County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. 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 city 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 Bullhead City Average
Bullhead City Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Bullhead City
- ●One soil character for all of Bullhead City
- ●Frost dates read at Bullhead City's scale: Mar 21 to Nov 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bullhead City's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bullhead City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bullhead City, Arizona — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bullhead City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bullhead City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bullhead City average
How we know this about Bullhead City
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Mohave County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Bullhead City
When does frost risk typically end in Bullhead City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bullhead City typically lands around Mar 21, 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 Apr 11.
When is the first frost in Bullhead City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bullhead City typically arrives around Nov 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 4, so the watching starts about Oct 19 — about 242 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bullhead City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bullhead City sees about 242 frost-free days — roughly Mar 21 through Nov 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 11 to Nov 4, about 207 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bullhead City?
The federal record around Bullhead City is a meaningful one — 179 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (105), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Bullhead City?
From about Oct 19 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 Nov 18 (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 Nov 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bullhead City's scale — its 10a band and its 242-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bullhead City'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 Bullhead City’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Bullhead City's own scale — the 37,999 acres it covers and 179 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bullhead City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 179 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bullhead City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bullhead City's boundary and the 37,999 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Bullhead City's own centroid, the Mojave Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Bullhead City checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Bullhead City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Mohave County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bullhead City's 37,999 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mohave County
- The candidate plant list — Arizona's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Arizona
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mohave County
- The growing challenges every Arizona grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arizona
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Mohave County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bullhead City's 37,999 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bullhead City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 37,999 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Bullhead City-wide figureread your own land →