Walden, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with zucchini, cranberry, cilantro, and okra — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Walden, 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 Walden 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 Walden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Walden — the short answer
Walden, Colorado: USDA zone 4a, about 99 days between hard freezes, across 214 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~99
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 214 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 4a is Walden's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Walden's 99-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Walden
Each reading below is measured for Walden itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWalden runs about 99 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
MeasuredWalden sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Walden is in
Walden sits in the Southern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Walden's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Walden
Every plant below cleared Walden's own zone 4a and its 99-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Walden?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 7 — 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 Walden
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Walden. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- USDA USFS R02 WALDEN WORK CENTER ROUTT NATIONAL FORESTBrownfields · 100 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #10708Brownfields · 200 ft
- Leroy SpauldingUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Canadian Strip MineUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Walden WarehouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Walden FinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- North Park Automotive & SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Corkle's Mini Mart #2Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Blanton's Mountain Mart IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CDOT WaldenUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Jackson County Road & BridgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Louisiana Pacific Corp Walden PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Walden'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 Walden.
Total Sites
22
within ~10 miles of Walden
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Walden
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Walden
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.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Walden
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 Walden average
Your land is one point inside Walden
Everything above resolves to Walden as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 214 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 Walden Average
Walden Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Walden
- ●One soil character for all of Walden
- ●Frost dates read at Walden's scale: May 31 to Sep 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Walden's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Walden
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Walden, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Walden averages can't show:
We read public map data around Walden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Walden average
How we know this about Walden
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 Walden’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 Walden
When does frost risk typically end in Walden?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Walden typically lands around May 31, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Walden?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Walden typically arrives around Sep 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 24, so the watching starts about Aug 8 — about 99 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Walden?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Walden sees about 99 frost-free days — roughly May 31 through Sep 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 21 to Aug 24, about 64 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Walden?
The federal record around Walden is a meaningful one — 22 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (17), the nearest Brownfields 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 gardeners stretch the season in Walden?
With about 99 frost-free days between hard freezes, Walden 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 127 to 155 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 31 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Walden's scale — its 4a band and its 99-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Walden'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 Walden’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Walden's own scale — its own ~99-day season between 28°F freezes, the 214 acres it covers and 22 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Walden's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Walden's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 31 and Sep 7 and the ~99-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 22 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Walden, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Walden's boundary and the 214 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~99-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Walden's own centroid, the Southern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Walden's 214 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Walden's 214 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Walden you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 214 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Walden-wide figureread your own land →