Parachute, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Parachute, 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 Parachute 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 Parachute — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Parachute — the short answer
Parachute, Colorado: USDA zone 6b, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 1K 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 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- 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 6b is Parachute's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Parachute's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Parachute
Each reading below is measured for Parachute itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredParachute runs about 186 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
MeasuredParachute 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 Parachute is in
Parachute sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Parachute's own centroid rather than borrowed from Garfield County.
What Grows in Parachute
Every plant below cleared Parachute's own zone 6b and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Parachute?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 20 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Parachute
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Parachute. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAMILY DOLLAR #6890Brownfields · 1500 ft
- Letson's ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Parachute StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Greg`s TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Parachute Grub N ScrubUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Parachute Lube & ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- PARACHUTE COMPRESSOR STATIONBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Parachute ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Shell / Conoco Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Parachute OfcUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BARGATH PARACHUTE GAS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- Texaco/Shell Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Parachute'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 Parachute.
Total Sites
31
within ~10 miles of Parachute
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Parachute
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Parachute
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.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Parachute
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 Parachute average
Your land is one point inside Parachute
Everything above resolves to Parachute 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 Parachute Average
Parachute Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Parachute
- ●One soil character for all of Parachute
- ●Frost dates read at Parachute's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Parachute's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Parachute
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Parachute, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Parachute averages can't show:
We read public map data around Parachute — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Parachute average
How we know this about Parachute
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 Parachute’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 Parachute
When does frost risk typically end in Parachute?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Parachute 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 Parachute?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Parachute typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Parachute?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Parachute sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 6, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Parachute?
The federal record around Parachute is light — 31 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (16), the nearest Brownfields 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 Parachute?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Parachute's scale — its 6b band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Parachute'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 Parachute’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Parachute's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,463 acres it covers and 31 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Parachute's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Parachute's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 20 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 31 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Parachute, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Parachute's boundary and the 1,463 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Parachute's own centroid, the Colorado PlateausUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Parachute's 1,463 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Garfield County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Garfield 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 Garfield County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Parachute's 1,463 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Parachute you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,463 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Parachute-wide figureread your own land →
More in Colorado
Wider growing context
What grows across ColoradoParachute sits outside our named growing regions, so Colorado as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides