Oak Creek, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Oak Creek, 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 Oak Creek 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 Oak Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oak Creek — the short answer
Oak Creek, Colorado: USDA zone 5a, about 121 days between hard freezes, across 236 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~121
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 236 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 5a is Oak Creek's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oak Creek's 121-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oak Creek
Each reading below is measured for Oak Creek itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOak Creek runs about 121 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredOak Creek sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Oak Creek is in
Oak Creek sits in the Southern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Oak Creek's own centroid rather than borrowed from Routt County.
What Grows in Oak Creek
Every plant below cleared Oak Creek's own zone 5a and its 121-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oak Creek?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Oak Creek
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oak Creek. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- J Woods Oil & GasUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Space Station - Oak CreekUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Town Of Oak Creek - MaintenanceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Routt County Road & Bridge Dist 1Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Maneotis SinclairUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- PHIPPSBURG WASTE DUMPSuperfund · 2.3 mi
- BLM-OAK CREEK LANDFILL (ROUTT COUNTY)Superfund · 2.5 mi
- Phippsburg GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Pittsburg & Midway Edna MineUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Phippsburg YardUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- P-burg MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- Colorado Yampa Coal CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oak Creek'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 Oak Creek.
Total Sites
24
within ~10 miles of Oak Creek
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oak Creek
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oak Creek
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.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Oak Creek
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 Oak Creek average
Your land is one point inside Oak Creek
Everything above resolves to Oak Creek as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 236 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 Oak Creek Average
Oak Creek Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Oak Creek
- ●One soil character for all of Oak Creek
- ●Frost dates read at Oak Creek's scale: May 25 to Sep 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oak Creek's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oak Creek
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oak Creek, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oak Creek averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oak Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oak Creek average
How we know this about Oak Creek
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 Oak Creek’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 Oak Creek
When does frost risk typically end in Oak Creek?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Creek typically lands around May 25, 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 Jun 15.
When is the first frost in Oak Creek?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oak Creek typically arrives around Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 9, so the watching starts about Aug 24 — about 121 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oak Creek?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oak Creek sees about 121 frost-free days — roughly May 25 through Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 15 to Sep 9, about 86 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oak Creek?
The federal record around Oak Creek is a meaningful one — 24 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (18), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 gardeners stretch the season in Oak Creek?
With about 121 frost-free days between hard freezes, Oak Creek rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 149 to 177 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 25 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Oak Creek's scale — its 5a band and its 121-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oak Creek'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 Oak Creek’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Oak Creek's own scale — its own ~121-day season between 28°F freezes, the 236 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oak Creek's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Oak Creek's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 25 and Sep 23 and the ~121-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oak Creek, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oak Creek's boundary and the 236 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~121-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oak Creek's own centroid, the Southern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oak Creek's 236 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Routt County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Routt 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 Routt County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oak Creek's 236 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oak Creek you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 236 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Oak Creek-wide figureread your own land →