Pueblo, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Pueblo, 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 Pueblo 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 Pueblo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Pueblo — the short answer
Pueblo, Colorado: USDA zone 6a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 36K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 36K 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 6a is Pueblo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pueblo's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pueblo
Each reading below is measured for Pueblo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPueblo 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
MeasuredPueblo sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Pueblo is in
Pueblo sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Pueblo's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pueblo County.
What Grows in Pueblo
Every plant below cleared Pueblo's own zone 6a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pueblo?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — 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 Pueblo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pueblo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Grand Rental Center IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Seme's Body ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Hurleys Sales & ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Pueblo Main Central OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- PUEBLO BRAKE & CLUTCH INCBrownfields · 750 ft
- UnknownUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Trailways IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Longs Auto & Truck RepairUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- SIGNS BY SCOTT LTDBrownfields · 950 ft
- Colorado National Bank Of PuebloUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Central States Roofing CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Water Department Maintenance FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pueblo'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 Pueblo.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pueblo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pueblo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pueblo, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Pueblo. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Pueblo
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 Pueblo average
Your land is one point inside Pueblo
Everything above resolves to Pueblo as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 36K 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 city 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 Pueblo Average
Pueblo Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Pueblo
- ●One soil character for all of Pueblo
- ●Frost dates read at Pueblo's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pueblo's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pueblo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pueblo, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pueblo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pueblo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pueblo average
How we know this about Pueblo
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Pueblo’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Pueblo
When does frost risk typically end in Pueblo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pueblo typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Pueblo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pueblo typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pueblo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pueblo sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 4, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pueblo?
The federal record around Pueblo is a meaningful one — 610 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (348), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Pueblo?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pueblo's scale — its 6a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pueblo'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 Pueblo’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pueblo's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 36,234 acres it covers and 610 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pueblo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pueblo's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 18 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 610 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pueblo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pueblo's boundary and the 36,234 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pueblo's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pueblo's 36,234 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pueblo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pueblo 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 Pueblo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pueblo's 36,234 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pueblo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 36,234 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Pueblo-wide figureread your own land →