Black Forest, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Black Forest, 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 Black Forest 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 Black Forest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Black Forest — the short answer
Black Forest, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 144 days between hard freezes, across 64K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~144
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 64K 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 5b is Black Forest's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Black Forest's 144-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Black Forest
Each reading below is measured for Black Forest itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBlack Forest runs about 144 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
MeasuredBlack Forest sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Black Forest is in
Black Forest sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Black Forest's own centroid rather than borrowed from El Paso County.
What Grows in Black Forest
Every plant below cleared Black Forest's own zone 5b and its 144-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Black Forest?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Black Forest
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Black Forest. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Mona H Davisson PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Pineries RanchUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- Black Forest Glider PortUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- ARKANSAS PLATTE & GULFBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- Rusty WicksUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Black Forest General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Black Forest StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Black Forrest StaUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Weaver ElectricUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- SC01106504DBA DAWMAS14Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- SC01206512CAB DAWMAS24Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- Black Forest Maintenance FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Black Forest'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 Black Forest.
Total Sites
213
within ~10 miles of Black Forest
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Black Forest
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Black Forest
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Black Forest, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Black Forest. 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 Black Forest
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 Black Forest average
Your land is one point inside Black Forest
Everything above resolves to Black Forest as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 64K 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 Black Forest Average
Black Forest Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Black Forest
- ●One soil character for all of Black Forest
- ●Frost dates read at Black Forest's scale: May 11 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Black Forest's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Black Forest
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Black Forest, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Black Forest averages can't show:
We read public map data around Black Forest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Black Forest average
How we know this about Black Forest
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 Black Forest’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 Black Forest
When does frost risk typically end in Black Forest?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Black Forest typically lands around May 11, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Black Forest?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Black Forest typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 144 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Black Forest?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Black Forest sees about 144 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 18, about 109 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Black Forest?
The federal record around Black Forest is a meaningful one — 213 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (87), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.5 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 gardeners stretch the season in Black Forest?
With about 144 frost-free days between hard freezes, Black Forest 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 172 to 200 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 11 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Black Forest's scale — its 5b band and its 144-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Black Forest'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 Black Forest’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Black Forest's own scale — its own ~144-day season between 28°F freezes, the 64,410 acres it covers and 213 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Black Forest's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Black Forest's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 2 and the ~144-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 213 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Black Forest, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Black Forest's boundary and the 64,410 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~144-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Black Forest's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Black Forest's 64,410 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom El Paso County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom El Paso 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 El Paso County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Black Forest's 64,410 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Black Forest you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 64,410 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.5 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 Black Forest-wide figureread your own land →
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