Colorado City, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Colorado City, 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 Colorado City 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 Colorado City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Colorado City — the short answer
Colorado City, Colorado: USDA zone 6a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 10K 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 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 10K 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 Colorado City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Colorado City's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Colorado City
Each reading below is measured for Colorado City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredColorado City runs about 186 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
MeasuredColorado City 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 Colorado City is in
Colorado City sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Colorado City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pueblo County.
What Grows in Colorado City
Every plant below cleared Colorado City's own zone 6a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Colorado City?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Colorado City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Colorado City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAMILY DOLLAR #8338Brownfields · 1200 ft
- Rye Telephone Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Valley Market StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Moores Valley AutoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Loaf N Jug #24Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Kenneth Pounds PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Rye Telephone Co GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Burlington NorthernUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Do-ray Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- Castle Rock KampgroundUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- Valley MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- CDOT Colorado CityUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Colorado City'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 Colorado City.
Total Sites
23
within ~10 miles of Colorado City
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 mining site (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Colorado City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Colorado City
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Colorado City
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 Colorado City average
Your land is one point inside Colorado City
Everything above resolves to Colorado City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 10K 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 Colorado City Average
Colorado City Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Colorado City
- ●One soil character for all of Colorado City
- ●Frost dates read at Colorado City's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Colorado City's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Colorado City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Colorado City, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Colorado City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Colorado City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Colorado City average
How we know this about Colorado City
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 Colorado City’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 Colorado City
When does frost risk typically end in Colorado City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Colorado City 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 Colorado City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Colorado City typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Colorado City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Colorado City sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 7, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Colorado City?
The federal record around Colorado City is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (21), the nearest Brownfields 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 Colorado City?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Colorado City's scale — its 6a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Colorado City'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 Colorado City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Colorado City's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 9,605 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Colorado City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Colorado City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 21 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Colorado City, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Colorado City's boundary and the 9,605 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Colorado City's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Colorado City's 9,605 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 Colorado City's 9,605 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Colorado City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,605 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Colorado City-wide figureread your own land →