Norwood, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Norwood, 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 Norwood 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 Norwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Norwood — the short answer
Norwood, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 223 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 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 223 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 Norwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Norwood's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Norwood
Each reading below is measured for Norwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorwood runs about 162 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
MeasuredNorwood 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 Norwood is in
Norwood sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Norwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from San Miguel County.
What Grows in Norwood
Every plant below cleared Norwood's own zone 5b and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Norwood?
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 12 — 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 Norwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Norwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ennis Petroleum IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Norwood Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Sam's ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- US Forest Service USFSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Norwood Automotive SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- San Miguel County Road DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- LASART LTD HOLOGRAPHIC LABBrownfields · 2000 ft
- Plateau #107Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BLM UNCOMPAHGRE FIELD OFFICE - NORWOOD WAREYARDBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Norwood ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- San Miguel County ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- CDOT NorwoodUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
1 more site is on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Norwood'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 Norwood.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Norwood
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.
Check your specific parcel in Norwood
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 Norwood average
Your land is one point inside Norwood
Everything above resolves to Norwood as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 223 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 Norwood Average
Norwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Norwood
- ●One soil character for all of Norwood
- ●Frost dates read at Norwood's scale: May 3 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Norwood's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Norwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Norwood, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Norwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Norwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Norwood average
How we know this about Norwood
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 Norwood’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 Norwood
When does frost risk typically end in Norwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Norwood 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 Norwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Norwood typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Norwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Norwood sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 28, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Norwood?
The federal record around Norwood is light — 13 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (11), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Norwood?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Norwood's scale — its 5b band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Norwood'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 Norwood’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Norwood's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 223 acres it covers and 13 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Norwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Norwood's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 12 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 13 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Norwood, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Norwood's boundary and the 223 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Norwood's own centroid, the Colorado PlateausUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Norwood's 223 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Miguel County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Miguel 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 San Miguel County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Norwood's 223 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Norwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 223 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 Norwood-wide figureread your own land →
More in Colorado
Wider growing context
What grows across ColoradoNorwood sits outside our named growing regions, so Colorado as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides