Blende, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Blende, 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 Blende 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 Blende — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Blende — the short answer
Blende, Colorado: USDA zone 6a, about 184 days between hard freezes, across 537 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~184
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 537 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 Blende's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Blende's 184-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Blende
Each reading below is measured for Blende itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBlende runs about 184 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
MeasuredBlende 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 Blende is in
Blende sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Blende's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pueblo County.
What Grows in Blende
Every plant below cleared Blende's own zone 6a and its 184-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Blende?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — 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 Blende
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Blende. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CALIBER COLLISION CENTERS - PUEBLO - SOUTHWEST 0891Brownfields · 1700 ft
- Triple Crown Trailer & RVUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GRUMA CORP. DBA MISSION FOODS CORPToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- Pate ConstructionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Loaf N Jug #8Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Clinton KalbUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Toms Trash Barrels IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Loaf N Jug #75Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Roselawn Cemetery AssociationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- James R Dilorio Water Reclamation FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CST Metro LLC DBA Corner Store #1723Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #2869Brownfields · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Blende'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 Blende.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Blende
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Blende
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Blende, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 39 sites within ~10 miles of Blende. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Blende
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 Blende average
Your land is one point inside Blende
Everything above resolves to Blende as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 537 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 Blende Average
Blende Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Blende
- ●One soil character for all of Blende
- ●Frost dates read at Blende's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Blende's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Blende
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Blende, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Blende averages can't show:
We read public map data around Blende — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Blende average
How we know this about Blende
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 Blende’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 Blende
When does frost risk typically end in Blende?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Blende typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Blende?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Blende typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 184 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Blende?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Blende sees about 184 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 3, about 149 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Blende?
The federal record around Blende is a meaningful one — 604 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (343), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Blende?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Blende's scale — its 6a band and its 184-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Blende'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 Blende’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Blende's own scale — its own ~184-day season between 28°F freezes, the 537 acres it covers and 604 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Blende's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Blende's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 17 and the ~184-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 604 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Blende, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Blende's boundary and the 537 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~184-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Blende's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Blende's 537 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 Blende's 537 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Blende you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 537 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Blende-wide figureread your own land →