Fraser, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor zucchini, cranberry, cilantro, and okra, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fraser, 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 Fraser 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 Fraser — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fraser — the short answer
Fraser, Colorado: USDA zone 4b, about 104 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jun 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~104
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 4b is Fraser's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fraser's 104-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fraser
Each reading below is measured for Fraser itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFraser runs about 104 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
MeasuredFraser sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Fraser is in
Fraser sits in the Southern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Fraser's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grand County.
What Grows in Fraser
Every plant below cleared Fraser's own zone 4b and its 104-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fraser?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jun 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 13 — 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 Fraser
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fraser. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BeaverMining · 0.6 mi
- Fraser Fuel LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Public Works BuildingUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Stop N Save #21Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- East Grand Fire Protection Dist #4Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- SC001017528BCB-GRAND-COUNTY FIRE STATIONNitrate · 1.0 mi
- Town Of Winter ParkUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- 7-Eleven #22193Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SC00107520DAD-MARYVAILNitrate · 1.1 mi
- Winter Park Hq - Box 191Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Robert PetersenUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SC00107533CBB-WINTER PARK VISITORS CENTERNitrate · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fraser'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 Fraser.
Total Sites
105
within ~10 miles of Fraser
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fraser
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fraser
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fraser, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fraser — Nitrate (52 sites) and Mining (8 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
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 well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Fraser
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 Fraser average
Your land is one point inside Fraser
Everything above resolves to Fraser as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Fraser Average
Fraser Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Fraser
- ●One soil character for all of Fraser
- ●Frost dates read at Fraser's scale: Jun 1 to Sep 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fraser's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fraser
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fraser, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fraser averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fraser — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fraser average
How we know this about Fraser
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 Fraser’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 Fraser
When does frost risk typically end in Fraser?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fraser typically lands around Jun 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Fraser?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fraser typically arrives around Sep 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 30, so the watching starts about Aug 14 — about 104 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fraser?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fraser sees about 104 frost-free days — roughly Jun 1 through Sep 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 22 to Aug 30, about 69 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fraser?
The federal record around Fraser is a meaningful one — 105 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (52), the nearest Mining record about 0.6 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 Fraser?
With about 104 frost-free days between hard freezes, Fraser 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 132 to 160 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the Jun 1 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Fraser's scale — its 4b band and its 104-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fraser'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 Fraser’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fraser's own scale — its own ~104-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,212 acres it covers and 105 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fraser's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fraser's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Jun 1 and Sep 13 and the ~104-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 105 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fraser, the closest Mining record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fraser's boundary and the 2,212 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~104-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fraser's own centroid, the Southern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fraser's 2,212 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grand County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grand 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 Grand County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fraser's 2,212 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fraser you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,212 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 0.6 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 Fraser-wide figureread your own land →