Matheson, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Matheson, 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 Matheson 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 Matheson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Matheson — the short answer
Matheson, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 158 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~158
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Matheson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Matheson's 158-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Matheson
Each reading below is measured for Matheson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMatheson runs about 158 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
MeasuredMatheson 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 Matheson is in
Matheson sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Matheson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Elbert County.
What Grows in Matheson
Every plant below cleared Matheson's own zone 5b and its 158-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Matheson?
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 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Matheson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Matheson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CDOT MathesonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Elbert County Road & Bridge DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- Happy TimezUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- GOOD SAMARITAN SOCIETY - SIMLABrownfields · 6.0 mi
- BIG SANDY SCHOOL DIST 100-JBrownfields · 6.1 mi
- SB00205931DC1Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- M T Small EnginesUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- SC01106003DAC LFHMAS08Nitrate · 7.0 mi
- OIT Simla #212Underground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
Measured from Matheson'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 Matheson.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Matheson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Matheson
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Matheson
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 Matheson average
Your land is one point inside Matheson
Everything above resolves to Matheson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Matheson Average
Matheson Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Matheson
- ●One soil character for all of Matheson
- ●Frost dates read at Matheson's scale: May 3 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Matheson's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Matheson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Matheson, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Matheson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Matheson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Matheson average
How we know this about Matheson
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 Matheson’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 Matheson
When does frost risk typically end in Matheson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Matheson typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Matheson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Matheson typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 158 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Matheson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Matheson sees about 158 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 24, about 123 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Matheson?
The federal record around Matheson is light — 11 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (5), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles 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 I protect my plants from frost in Matheson?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Matheson's scale — its 5b band and its 158-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Matheson'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 Matheson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Matheson's own scale — its own ~158-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,098 acres it covers and 11 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Matheson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Matheson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 8 and the ~158-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 11 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Matheson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Matheson's boundary and the 1,098 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~158-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Matheson's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Matheson's 1,098 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Elbert County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Elbert 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 Elbert County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Matheson's 1,098 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Matheson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,098 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 Matheson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Colorado
Wider growing context
What grows across ColoradoMatheson sits outside our named growing regions, so Colorado as a whole is its closest context here.