Whitecone, Arizona, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Whitecone, 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 Whitecone 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 Whitecone — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Whitecone — the short answer
Whitecone, Arizona: USDA zone 6b, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 29K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 29K 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 Whitecone's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whitecone's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Whitecone
Each reading below is measured for Whitecone itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWhitecone runs about 180 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
MeasuredWhitecone 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 Whitecone is in
Whitecone sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Whitecone's own centroid rather than borrowed from Navajo County.
What Grows in Whitecone
Every plant below cleared Whitecone's own zone 6b and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's Arizona profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Whitecone?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Whitecone
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Whitecone. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 07 112-03.66X09.95Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 07 112-05.43X10.52Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 07 112-03.97X08.62Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 07 112-01.38X09.48Nitrate · 3.1 mi
- 07 112-08.83X09.98Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- Windmill 7H15Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- 07 112-09.35X06.75Nitrate · 5.9 mi
- 07 112-03.10X03.80Nitrate · 6.3 mi
- 17 111-11.97X09.79Nitrate · 6.6 mi
- 07 112-05.77X16.56Nitrate · 6.7 mi
- 07 112-10.49X13.07Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- 07 112-07.52X16.09Nitrate · 6.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Whitecone'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 Whitecone.
Total Sites
52
within ~10 miles of Whitecone
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
52 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Whitecone
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Whitecone, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 52 sites within ~10 miles of Whitecone. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Whitecone
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 Whitecone average
Your land is one point inside Whitecone
Everything above resolves to Whitecone as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 29K 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 Whitecone Average
Whitecone Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Whitecone
- ●One soil character for all of Whitecone
- ●Frost dates read at Whitecone's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whitecone's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Whitecone
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whitecone, Arizona — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whitecone averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whitecone — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whitecone average
How we know this about Whitecone
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 Whitecone’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 Whitecone
When does frost risk typically end in Whitecone?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whitecone typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Whitecone?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Whitecone typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Whitecone?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whitecone sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 9, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whitecone?
The federal record around Whitecone shows 52 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (52), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Whitecone?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Whitecone's scale — its 6b band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whitecone'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 Whitecone’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Whitecone's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 28,861 acres it covers and 52 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whitecone's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Whitecone's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 23 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 52 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Whitecone, the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Whitecone's boundary and the 28,861 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Whitecone's own centroid, the Arizona/New Mexico PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Whitecone's 28,861 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Navajo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Navajo 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 Navajo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Whitecone's 28,861 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Whitecone you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 28,861 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Whitecone-wide figureread your own land →
More in Arizona
Wider growing context
What grows across ArizonaWhitecone sits outside our named growing regions, so Arizona as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides