Aspen Springs, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Aspen Springs, 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 Aspen Springs 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 Aspen Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Aspen Springs — the short answer
Aspen Springs, California: USDA zone 6b, about 129 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~129
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Aspen Springs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Aspen Springs's 129-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Aspen Springs
Each reading below is measured for Aspen Springs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAspen Springs runs about 129 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAspen Springs 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 Aspen Springs is in
Aspen Springs sits in the Sierra Nevada — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Aspen Springs's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Mono County is mostly Central Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Aspen Springs
Every plant below cleared Aspen Springs's own zone 6b and its 129-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Aspen Springs?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Aspen Springs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Aspen Springs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Crowley Lake General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- LONG VALLEY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICTBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- 005S030E24C001MNitrate · 4.7 mi
- PARADISE TRANSFER STATIONBrownfields · 6.8 mi
- MAMMOTH CWDPFAS · 7.7 mi
- MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN SKI AREA - OUTPOST 14PFAS · 7.7 mi
- Casa Diablo QuicksilverMining · 8.3 mi
- Casa Diablo MineMining · 8.3 mi
- Casa DiabloMining · 8.3 mi
- UCLA - BARCROFTBrownfields · 8.4 mi
- UCSD - CROOKED CREEKBrownfields · 8.4 mi
- Mistery ClaimMining · 8.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Aspen Springs'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 Aspen Springs.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Aspen Springs
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Aspen Springs
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Aspen Springs
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 Aspen Springs average
Your land is one point inside Aspen Springs
Everything above resolves to Aspen Springs as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Aspen Springs Average
Aspen Springs Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Aspen Springs
- ●One soil character for all of Aspen Springs
- ●Frost dates read at Aspen Springs's scale: May 29 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Aspen Springs's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Aspen Springs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Aspen Springs, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Aspen Springs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Aspen Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Aspen Springs average
How we know this about Aspen Springs
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 Aspen Springs’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 Aspen Springs
When does frost risk typically end in Aspen Springs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Aspen Springs typically lands around May 29, 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 Jun 19.
When is the first frost in Aspen Springs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Aspen Springs typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 129 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Aspen Springs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Aspen Springs sees about 129 frost-free days — roughly May 29 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 19 to Sep 21, about 94 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Aspen Springs?
The federal record around Aspen Springs is a meaningful one — 24 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (13), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 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 gardeners stretch the season in Aspen Springs?
With about 129 frost-free days between hard freezes, Aspen Springs rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 157 to 185 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 29 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Aspen Springs's scale — its 6b band and its 129-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Aspen Springs'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 Aspen Springs’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Aspen Springs's own scale — its own ~129-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,295 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Aspen Springs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Aspen Springs's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 29 and Oct 5 and the ~129-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Aspen Springs, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Aspen Springs's boundary and the 2,295 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~129-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Aspen Springs sits in the Sierra Nevada — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Aspen Springs's 2,295 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mono County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mono County
- The growing challenges every California grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom California
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Mono County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Aspen Springs's 2,295 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Aspen Springs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,295 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 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 Aspen Springs-wide figureread your own land →