Del Norte, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Del Norte, 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 Del Norte 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 Del Norte — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Del Norte — the short answer
Del Norte, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 137 days between hard freezes, across 689 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~137
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 689 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 Del Norte's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Del Norte's 137-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Del Norte
Each reading below is measured for Del Norte itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDel Norte runs about 137 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
MeasuredDel Norte 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 Del Norte is in
Del Norte sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Del Norte's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Rio Grande County is mostly Southern Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Del Norte
Every plant below cleared Del Norte's own zone 5b and its 137-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Del Norte?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 15 (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. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Del Norte
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Del Norte. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Alta Convenience #5504Underground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Rio Grande County Road DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Rio Grande Sheriff DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Stop N Shop #3Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Everyday Stores LLC #5720Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Dynamic VenturesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Summitville MiningUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #9282Brownfields · 2000 ft
- RIVER VALLEY INN NURSING HOMEBrownfields · 2000 ft
- Del Norte School DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Berwick Coffee ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- PSCO - DEL NORTE OFFICEBrownfields · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Del Norte'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 Del Norte.
Total Sites
27
within ~10 miles of Del Norte
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 mining site (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Del Norte
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Del Norte
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Del Norte, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 8 sites within ~10 miles of Del Norte. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Del Norte
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 Del Norte average
Your land is one point inside Del Norte
Everything above resolves to Del Norte as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 689 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 Del Norte Average
Del Norte Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Del Norte
- ●One soil character for all of Del Norte
- ●Frost dates read at Del Norte's scale: May 15 to Sep 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Del Norte's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Del Norte
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Del Norte, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Del Norte averages can't show:
We read public map data around Del Norte — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Del Norte average
How we know this about Del Norte
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 Del Norte’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 Del Norte
When does frost risk typically end in Del Norte?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Del Norte typically lands around May 15, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Del Norte?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Del Norte typically arrives around Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 15, so the watching starts about Aug 30 — about 137 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Del Norte?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Del Norte sees about 137 frost-free days — roughly May 15 through Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 5 to Sep 15, about 102 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Del Norte?
The federal record around Del Norte is light — 27 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (14), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Del Norte?
With about 137 frost-free days between hard freezes, Del Norte 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 165 to 193 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 15 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Del Norte's scale — its 5b band and its 137-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Del Norte'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 Del Norte’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Del Norte's own scale — its own ~137-day season between 28°F freezes, the 689 acres it covers and 27 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Del Norte's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Del Norte's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 15 and Sep 29 and the ~137-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 27 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Del Norte, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Del Norte's boundary and the 689 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~137-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Del Norte sits in the Arizona/New Mexico Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Del Norte's 689 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rio Grande County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rio Grande 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 Rio Grande County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Del Norte's 689 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Del Norte you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 689 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Del Norte-wide figureread your own land →
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