Teller County, in Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Teller County lies within the Colorado High Country (Central Rockies) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Teller County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Teller County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Teller County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Teller County — the short answer
Teller County, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 132 days between hard freezes, across 357K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~132
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 357K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Teller County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Teller County's 132-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Teller County
Across a year, Teller County accumulates about 718 growing degree days above 50°F, about 1,114 fewer than the middle Colorado county — ahead of 12 of Colorado’s 64 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Teller County
Across Teller County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Catamount, Sphinx, and Rofork are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a very gravelly sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.2–6.7, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
4%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Teller County
The USDA soil survey maps 46% of Teller County as well drained — but another 51% drains differently: 41% somewhat excessively drained, 8% excessively drained.
Catamount is the most extensive named soil at 19% of mapped acres, then Sphinx (16%) and Rofork (14%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Teller County
Each reading below is measured for Teller County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Teller County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Teller County runs about pH 6.2–6.7, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredTeller County runs about 132 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
MeasuredTeller County 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 Teller County is in
Teller County sits in the Southern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Teller County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Teller County's own USDA zone 5b and its own 132-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile.
Is it too late to plant in Teller County?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What gets applied to farmland in Teller County
USGS estimates 227 lb of Glyphosate on Teller County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Chlorpyrifos (116 lb) and 2,4-d (84 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Teller County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Teller County — 89 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Teller County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Teller County
Closest first, across Teller County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RAINBOW VALLEY WATER DISTRICT WHITE POWDERSuperfund · 1.9 mi
- Black Cloud QuarryMining · 4.9 mi
- Black Cloud MineMining · 4.9 mi
- Evergreen StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- Divide ConocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- CDOT Divide Hwy Construction ProjectUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- Teller County Dept Of TransUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- MATERIALS MANAGEMENT COMPANY LLCBrownfields · 5.4 mi
- DIVIDE COLLISION CENTER / QUALITY COLLISION INCBrownfields · 5.4 mi
- Alta #6115Underground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- District Supply CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- Stop N Save #23Underground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Teller County'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 Teller County.
Total Sites
89
across Teller County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Teller County
Severity Distribution
across Teller County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Teller County, Mining runs higher than the national average — 9 sites across Teller County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Teller County
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 Teller County average
Your land is one point inside Teller County
Everything above resolves to Teller County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 357K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Teller County Average
Teller County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Teller County
- ●One soil character for all of Teller County
- ●Frost dates read at Teller County's scale: May 20 to Sep 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Teller County's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Teller County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Teller County, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Teller County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Teller County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Teller County average
How we know this about Teller County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Teller County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Teller County
When does frost risk typically end in Teller County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Teller County typically lands around May 20, 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 10.
How long is the growing season in Teller County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Teller County sees about 132 frost-free days — roughly May 20 through Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 10 to Sep 15, about 97 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Teller County?
The federal record around Teller County is a meaningful one — 89 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (47), the nearest Superfund record about 1.9 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 gardeners stretch the season in Teller County?
With about 132 frost-free days between hard freezes, Teller County 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 160 to 188 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 20 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Teller County's scale — its 5b band and its 132-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Teller County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Colorado's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Teller County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Teller County's own scale — its own ~132-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 89 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Teller County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Teller County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~132-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Teller CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 89 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Superfund record about 1.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Teller County's boundary and the 356,570 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~132-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Teller County sitting wholly inside the Southern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Teller County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Colorado grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Colorado
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Teller County — the ~132 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Teller County's 356,570 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 89 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Teller Countyread your own land →