Naturita, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Naturita, 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 Naturita 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 Naturita — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Naturita — the short answer
Naturita, Colorado: USDA zone 6b, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 394 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 394 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 6b is Naturita's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Naturita's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Naturita
Each reading below is measured for Naturita itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNaturita runs about 189 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
MeasuredNaturita sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Naturita is in
Naturita sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Naturita's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montrose County.
What Grows in Naturita
Every plant below cleared Naturita's own zone 6b and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Naturita?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Naturita
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Naturita. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Uravan SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #10532Brownfields · 550 ft
- Family MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Naturita Sales CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Binders TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Naturita Sales LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- West End Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Naturita PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- NATURITA MILLSITE CYPRUS FOOTEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Hopkins Field AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Umetco Minerals CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- CDOT NuclaUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Naturita'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 Naturita.
Total Sites
24
within ~10 miles of Naturita
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Naturita
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Naturita
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.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Naturita
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 Naturita average
Your land is one point inside Naturita
Everything above resolves to Naturita as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 394 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 Naturita Average
Naturita Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Naturita
- ●One soil character for all of Naturita
- ●Frost dates read at Naturita's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Naturita's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Naturita
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Naturita, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Naturita averages can't show:
We read public map data around Naturita — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Naturita average
How we know this about Naturita
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 Naturita’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 Naturita
When does frost risk typically end in Naturita?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Naturita typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Naturita?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Naturita typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Naturita?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Naturita sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 9, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Naturita?
The federal record around Naturita is a meaningful one — 24 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (15), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 I protect my plants from frost in Naturita?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Naturita's scale — its 6b band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Naturita'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 Naturita’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Naturita's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 394 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Naturita's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Naturita's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 23 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Naturita, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Naturita's boundary and the 394 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Naturita's own centroid, the Colorado PlateausUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Naturita's 394 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Montrose County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Montrose 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 Montrose County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Naturita's 394 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Naturita you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 394 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 Naturita-wide figureread your own land →
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