Branson, Colorado, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Branson, 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 Branson 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 Branson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Branson — the short answer
Branson, Colorado: USDA zone 6b, about 184 days between hard freezes, across 157 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- 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
- ~184
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 157 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 Branson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Branson's 184-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Branson
Each reading below is measured for Branson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBranson 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
MeasuredBranson 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 Branson is in
Branson sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Branson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Las Animas County.
What Grows in Branson
Every plant below cleared Branson's own zone 6b and its 184-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Branson?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Branson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Branson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Branson School District Re-82Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- San Miguel MineMining · 8.5 mi
- Hudson Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
Measured from Branson'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 Branson.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Branson
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Branson
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 Branson average
Your land is one point inside Branson
Everything above resolves to Branson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 157 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 Branson Average
Branson Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Branson
- ●One soil character for all of Branson
- ●Frost dates read at Branson's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Branson's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Branson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Branson, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Branson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Branson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Branson average
How we know this about Branson
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 Branson’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 Branson
When does frost risk typically end in Branson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Branson typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Branson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Branson 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 184 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Branson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Branson sees about 184 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 9, about 149 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Branson?
The federal record around Branson is light — 3 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Branson?
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 Branson's scale — its 6b band and its 184-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Branson'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 Branson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Branson's own scale — its own ~184-day season between 28°F freezes, the 157 acres it covers and 3 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Branson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Branson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 23 and the ~184-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 3 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Branson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Branson's boundary and the 157 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~184-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Branson's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Branson's 157 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Las Animas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Las Animas 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 Las Animas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Branson's 157 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Branson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 157 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Branson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Colorado
Wider growing context
What grows across ColoradoBranson sits outside our named growing regions, so Colorado as a whole is its closest context here.