Piedra, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Piedra, 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 Piedra 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 Piedra — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Piedra — the short answer
Piedra, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 129 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~129
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Piedra's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Piedra's 129-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Piedra
Each reading below is measured for Piedra itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPiedra runs about 129 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
MeasuredPiedra 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 Piedra is in
Piedra sits in the Southern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Piedra's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hinsdale County.
What Grows in Piedra
Every plant below cleared Piedra's own zone 5b and its 129-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Piedra?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 30 — 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 Piedra
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Piedra. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Sportsmans SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- US Forest ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.7 mi
- Pagosa Springs Aviation IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.3 mi
Measured from Piedra'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 Piedra.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Piedra
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Piedra
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 Piedra average
Your land is one point inside Piedra
Everything above resolves to Piedra as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Piedra Average
Piedra Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Piedra
- ●One soil character for all of Piedra
- ●Frost dates read at Piedra's scale: May 24 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Piedra's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Piedra
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Piedra, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Piedra averages can't show:
We read public map data around Piedra — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Piedra average
How we know this about Piedra
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 Piedra’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 Piedra
When does frost risk typically end in Piedra?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Piedra typically lands around May 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Piedra?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Piedra typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 129 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Piedra?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Piedra sees about 129 frost-free days — roughly May 24 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 14 to Sep 16, about 94 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Piedra?
The federal record around Piedra is light — 3 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (3), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 gardeners stretch the season in Piedra?
With about 129 frost-free days between hard freezes, Piedra 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 157 to 185 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 24 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Piedra's scale — its 5b band and its 129-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Piedra'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 Piedra’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Piedra's own scale — its own ~129-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,437 acres it covers and 3 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Piedra's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Piedra's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 24 and Sep 30 and the ~129-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 3 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Piedra, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Piedra's boundary and the 7,437 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~129-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Piedra's own centroid, the Southern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Piedra's 7,437 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hinsdale County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hinsdale 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 Hinsdale County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Piedra's 7,437 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Piedra you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,437 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Piedra-wide figureread your own land →