Breckenridge, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor pumpkin, cranberry, lavender, and zucchini, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Breckenridge, 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 Breckenridge 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 Breckenridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Breckenridge — the short answer
Breckenridge, Colorado: USDA zone 5a, about 106 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jun 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~106
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 5a is Breckenridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Breckenridge's 106-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Breckenridge
Each reading below is measured for Breckenridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBreckenridge runs about 106 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
MeasuredBreckenridge sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Breckenridge is in
Breckenridge sits in the Southern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Breckenridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Summit County.
What Grows in Breckenridge
Every plant below cleared Breckenridge's own zone 5a and its 106-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Breckenridge?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jun 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Breckenridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Breckenridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SultanaMining · 900 ft
- Texaco Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Fox Lake MineMining · 1500 ft
- 7-Eleven #32267Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- TOWN OF BRECKENRIDGE EQUIPMENT SHOPBrownfields · 1900 ft
- Breckenridge Public Works YardUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Breckenridge BarnUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- UnknownMining · 0.5 mi
- Iron MaskMining · 0.6 mi
- GOLDEN EAGLE SERVICEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Kellogg MineMining · 0.6 mi
- Bullion KingMining · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Breckenridge'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 Breckenridge.
Total Sites
374
within ~10 miles of Breckenridge
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Breckenridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Breckenridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Breckenridge, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Breckenridge — Mining (237 sites) and PFAS (4 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Breckenridge
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 Breckenridge average
Your land is one point inside Breckenridge
Everything above resolves to Breckenridge as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Breckenridge Average
Breckenridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Breckenridge
- ●One soil character for all of Breckenridge
- ●Frost dates read at Breckenridge's scale: Jun 3 to Sep 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Breckenridge's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Breckenridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Breckenridge, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Breckenridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Breckenridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Breckenridge average
How we know this about Breckenridge
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 Breckenridge’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 Breckenridge
When does frost risk typically end in Breckenridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Breckenridge typically lands around Jun 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Breckenridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Breckenridge typically arrives around Sep 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 3, so the watching starts about Aug 18 — about 106 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Breckenridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Breckenridge sees about 106 frost-free days — roughly Jun 3 through Sep 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 24 to Sep 3, about 71 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Breckenridge?
The federal record around Breckenridge runs heavier than most — 374 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (237), the nearest Mining record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Breckenridge?
With about 106 frost-free days between hard freezes, Breckenridge 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 134 to 162 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the Jun 3 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Breckenridge's scale — its 5a band and its 106-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Breckenridge'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 Breckenridge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Breckenridge's own scale — its own ~106-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,868 acres it covers and 374 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Breckenridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Breckenridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Jun 3 and Sep 17 and the ~106-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 374 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Breckenridge, the closest Mining record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Breckenridge's boundary and the 3,868 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~106-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Breckenridge's own centroid, the Southern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Breckenridge's 3,868 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Summit County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Summit 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 Summit County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Breckenridge's 3,868 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Breckenridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,868 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining 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 Breckenridge-wide figureread your own land →