Avondale, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Avondale, 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 Avondale 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 Avondale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Avondale — the short answer
Avondale, Colorado: USDA zone 6a, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 402 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 402 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 6a is Avondale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Avondale's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Avondale
Each reading below is measured for Avondale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAvondale 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
MeasuredAvondale sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Avondale is in
Avondale sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Avondale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pueblo County.
What Grows in Avondale
Every plant below cleared Avondale's own zone 6a and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Avondale?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Avondale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Avondale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- James NormanUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Pete's ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Loaf N Jug #15Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SC02106204BAB USGS 381530104203401Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- SC02006231DDDNitrate · 2.1 mi
- Centa Farms & LivestockUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- COOPER AND TURNERBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- SC02006336DCA USGS 381544104232901Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- Travelers Equity No 11690Underground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- PUEBLO ABANDONED CYANIDE 2Superfund · 4.3 mi
- SC02106303DCCNitrate · 4.5 mi
- Boone JunctionUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Avondale'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 Avondale.
Total Sites
77
within ~10 miles of Avondale
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Avondale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Avondale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Avondale, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 11 sites within ~10 miles of Avondale. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Avondale
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 Avondale average
Your land is one point inside Avondale
Everything above resolves to Avondale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 402 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 Avondale Average
Avondale Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Avondale
- ●One soil character for all of Avondale
- ●Frost dates read at Avondale's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Avondale's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Avondale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Avondale, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Avondale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Avondale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Avondale average
How we know this about Avondale
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 Avondale’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 Avondale
When does frost risk typically end in Avondale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Avondale typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Avondale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Avondale typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Avondale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Avondale sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 1, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Avondale?
The federal record around Avondale is a meaningful one — 77 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (31), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Avondale?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Avondale's scale — its 6a band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Avondale'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 Avondale’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Avondale's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 402 acres it covers and 77 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Avondale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Avondale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 15 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 77 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Avondale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Avondale's boundary and the 402 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Avondale's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Avondale's 402 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pueblo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pueblo County
- The growing challenges every Colorado grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Colorado
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Pueblo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Avondale's 402 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Avondale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 402 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Avondale-wide figureread your own land →