Ignacio, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ignacio, 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 Ignacio 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 Ignacio — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ignacio — the short answer
Ignacio, Colorado: USDA zone 6a, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 328 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~155
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 328 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 Ignacio's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ignacio's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ignacio
Each reading below is measured for Ignacio itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredIgnacio runs about 155 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
MeasuredIgnacio 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 Ignacio is in
Ignacio sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Ignacio's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: La Plata County is mostly Southern Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Ignacio
Every plant below cleared Ignacio's own zone 6a and its 155-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ignacio?
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 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Ignacio
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ignacio. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ignacio School District 11 JtUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Ignacio Field District YardUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Ignacio_41Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WILLIAMS FIELD SVCS IGNACIO FIBrownfields · 1300 ft
- DUBS AUTO GARAGEBrownfields · 1300 ft
- SundanceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Town Of IgnacioUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Ignacio TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Dist Iii Maintenance ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- DUBS AUTO BODY INC / DUBLIN WILMERBrownfields · 2100 ft
- Thriftway #274Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #11666Brownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ignacio'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 Ignacio.
Total Sites
125
within ~10 miles of Ignacio
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ignacio
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ignacio
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ignacio, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 68 sites within ~10 miles of Ignacio. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Ignacio
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 Ignacio average
Your land is one point inside Ignacio
Everything above resolves to Ignacio as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 328 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 Ignacio Average
Ignacio Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Ignacio
- ●One soil character for all of Ignacio
- ●Frost dates read at Ignacio's scale: May 7 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ignacio's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ignacio
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ignacio, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ignacio averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ignacio — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ignacio average
How we know this about Ignacio
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 Ignacio’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 Ignacio
When does frost risk typically end in Ignacio?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ignacio typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Ignacio?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ignacio typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 155 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ignacio?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ignacio sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 25, about 120 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ignacio?
The federal record around Ignacio shows 125 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (68), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Ignacio?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ignacio's scale — its 6a band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ignacio'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 Ignacio’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ignacio's own scale — its own ~155-day season between 28°F freezes, the 328 acres it covers and 125 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ignacio's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ignacio's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 9 and the ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 125 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ignacio, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ignacio's boundary and the 328 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Ignacio sits in the Colorado Plateaus — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ignacio's 328 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom La Plata County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom La Plata 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 La Plata County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ignacio's 328 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ignacio you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 328 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Ignacio-wide figureread your own land →
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