Golden, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Golden, 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 Golden 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 Golden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Golden — the short answer
Golden, Colorado: USDA zone 6a, about 172 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~172
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Golden's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Golden's 172-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Golden
Each reading below is measured for Golden itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGolden runs about 172 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
MeasuredGolden 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 Golden is in
Golden sits in the Southern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Golden's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Golden
Every plant below cleared Golden's own zone 6a and its 172-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Golden?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — 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 Golden
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Golden. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Conoco #06361Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Lookout Mountain SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Golden Central OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Jackson Street 66Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Table MountainUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Lookout CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Jackson Street StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Golden Ford IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Jeffco Hall Of JusticeUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SAFEWAY STORE #322Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- AUTOSPORT INCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Ben Parker Student CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Golden'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 Golden.
Total Sites
1,527
within ~10 miles of Golden
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
16 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Golden
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Golden
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.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Golden
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 Golden average
Your land is one point inside Golden
Everything above resolves to Golden as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 city 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 Golden Average
Golden Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Golden
- ●One soil character for all of Golden
- ●Frost dates read at Golden's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Golden's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Golden
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Golden, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Golden averages can't show:
We read public map data around Golden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Golden average
How we know this about Golden
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Golden’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Golden
When does frost risk typically end in Golden?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Golden typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Golden?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Golden typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 172 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Golden?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Golden sees about 172 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 1, about 137 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Golden?
The federal record around Golden runs heavier than most — 1,527 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (848), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Golden?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Golden's scale — its 6a band and its 172-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Golden'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 Golden’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Golden's own scale — its own ~172-day season between 28°F freezes, the 6,171 acres it covers and 1,527 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Golden's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Golden's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 15 and the ~172-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,527 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Golden, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Golden's boundary and the 6,171 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~172-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Golden's own centroid, the Southern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Golden's 6,171 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Golden's 6,171 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Golden you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,171 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 Golden-wide figureread your own land →
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