Cope, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Cope, 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 Cope 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 Cope — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cope — the short answer
Cope, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- 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
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Cope's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cope's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cope
Each reading below is measured for Cope itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCope runs about 176 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
MeasuredCope 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 Cope is in
Cope sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Cope's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington County.
What Grows in Cope
Every plant below cleared Cope's own zone 5b and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cope?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Cope
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cope. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Cope Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Leons Repair ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Cargill IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Eugene W JaegerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SC00404932BCCNitrate · 2.7 mi
- Oscar G Cox PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- Lees ConocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
Measured from Cope'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 Cope.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cope
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Cope
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 Cope average
Your land is one point inside Cope
Everything above resolves to Cope as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Cope Average
Cope Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Cope
- ●One soil character for all of Cope
- ●Frost dates read at Cope's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cope's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cope
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cope, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cope averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cope — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cope average
How we know this about Cope
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 Cope’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 Cope
When does frost risk typically end in Cope?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cope typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Cope?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cope 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 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cope?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cope sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 3, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cope?
The federal record around Cope is light — 8 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (6), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Cope?
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 Cope's scale — its 5b band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cope'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 Cope’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cope's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,149 acres it covers and 8 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cope's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cope's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 17 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 8 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cope, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cope's boundary and the 1,149 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cope's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cope's 1,149 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington 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 Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cope's 1,149 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cope you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,149 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Cope-wide figureread your own land →
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