Paonia, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Paonia, 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 Paonia 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 Paonia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Paonia — the short answer
Paonia, Colorado: USDA zone 6b, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 531 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 531 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 Paonia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paonia's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paonia
Each reading below is measured for Paonia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPaonia runs about 181 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
MeasuredPaonia 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 Paonia is in
Paonia sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Paonia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Delta County.
What Grows in Paonia
Every plant below cleared Paonia's own zone 6b and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Paonia?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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 Paonia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paonia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Bruton PetroleumUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- US Forest ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- UPRR Paonia Section HqUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Auto Repair ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Paonia ConocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Reedys North Fork ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Peppers Fountain & GrillUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CDOT PaoniaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PAONIA CARE AND REHAB CENTERBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Stop N Save #9Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- William L Pitt PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- North Fork Valley AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Paonia'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 Paonia.
Total Sites
37
within ~10 miles of Paonia
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Paonia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paonia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Paonia, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Paonia — Mining (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (27 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Paonia
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 Paonia average
Your land is one point inside Paonia
Everything above resolves to Paonia as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 531 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 Paonia Average
Paonia Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Paonia
- ●One soil character for all of Paonia
- ●Frost dates read at Paonia's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paonia's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paonia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paonia, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paonia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paonia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paonia average
How we know this about Paonia
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 Paonia’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 Paonia
When does frost risk typically end in Paonia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paonia typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Paonia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paonia typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Paonia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paonia sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 7, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Paonia?
The federal record around Paonia is a meaningful one — 37 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (27), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 I protect my plants from frost in Paonia?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Paonia's scale — its 6b band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paonia'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 Paonia’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Paonia's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 531 acres it covers and 37 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paonia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Paonia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 21 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 37 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paonia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paonia's boundary and the 531 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Paonia's own centroid, the Colorado PlateausUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Paonia's 531 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Delta County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Delta 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 Delta County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Paonia's 531 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paonia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 531 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 Paonia-wide figureread your own land →
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