Ridgway, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ridgway, 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 Ridgway 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 Ridgway — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ridgway — the short answer
Ridgway, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 129 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~129
- 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 5b is Ridgway's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ridgway's 129-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ridgway
Each reading below is measured for Ridgway itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRidgway 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
MeasuredRidgway 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 Ridgway is in
Ridgway sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Ridgway's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Ouray County is mostly Southern Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Ridgway
Every plant below cleared Ridgway'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 Ridgway?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Ridgway
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ridgway. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Town Of RidgwayUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Ouray County Road DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Frederick's Of SawpitUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Granite Construction CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Ridgway ConocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Ridgway ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #8703Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- CDOT RidgwayUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FortunaMining · 1.5 mi
- NB04500804ABB00Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- TRI COUNTY WCDPFAS · 1.9 mi
- NB043000828CAC00Nitrate · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ridgway'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 Ridgway.
Total Sites
64
within ~10 miles of Ridgway
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ridgway
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ridgway
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ridgway, Mining runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Ridgway. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Ridgway
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 Ridgway average
Your land is one point inside Ridgway
Everything above resolves to Ridgway 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 Ridgway Average
Ridgway Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Ridgway
- ●One soil character for all of Ridgway
- ●Frost dates read at Ridgway's scale: May 21 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ridgway's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ridgway
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ridgway, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ridgway averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ridgway — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ridgway average
How we know this about Ridgway
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 Ridgway’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 Ridgway
When does frost risk typically end in Ridgway?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ridgway typically lands around May 21, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Ridgway?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ridgway typically arrives around Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 13, so the watching starts about Aug 28 — about 129 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ridgway?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ridgway sees about 129 frost-free days — roughly May 21 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 11 to Sep 13, about 94 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ridgway?
The federal record around Ridgway runs heavier than most — 64 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Ridgway?
With about 129 frost-free days between hard freezes, Ridgway 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 21 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Ridgway's scale — its 5b band and its 129-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ridgway'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 Ridgway’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ridgway's own scale — its own ~129-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,183 acres it covers and 64 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ridgway's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ridgway's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 21 and Sep 27 and the ~129-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 64 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ridgway, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ridgway's boundary and the 1,183 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~129-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Ridgway sits in the Colorado Plateaus — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ridgway's 1,183 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ouray County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ouray 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 Ouray County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ridgway's 1,183 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ridgway you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,183 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Ridgway-wide figureread your own land →
More in Colorado
Wider growing context
What grows across ColoradoRidgway sits outside our named growing regions, so Colorado as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides