Westcreek, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Westcreek, 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 Westcreek 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 Westcreek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Westcreek — the short answer
Westcreek, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 146 days between hard freezes, across 778 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~146
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 778 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 Westcreek's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Westcreek's 146-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Westcreek
Each reading below is measured for Westcreek itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWestcreek runs about 146 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
MeasuredWestcreek 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 Westcreek is in
Westcreek sits in the Southern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Westcreek's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Douglas County is mostly Southwestern Tablelands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Westcreek
Every plant below cleared Westcreek's own zone 5b and its 146-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Westcreek?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 3 — 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 Westcreek
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Westcreek. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AT&T WESTCREEK RS?Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- AT&T Westcreek RSUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.1 mi
- Denver QuarryMining · 7.3 mi
- Deckers Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- CCOD Denver Water DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.0 mi
- Devils Head Pegmatite DistrictMining · 8.3 mi
- Manitou Experimental ForestUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.7 mi
- AGILENT TECHNOLOGIESBrownfields · 9.6 mi
- WOODLAND PARK CITY OFPFAS · 9.9 mi
Measured from Westcreek'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 Westcreek.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Westcreek
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Westcreek
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.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Westcreek
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 Westcreek average
Your land is one point inside Westcreek
Everything above resolves to Westcreek as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 778 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 Westcreek Average
Westcreek Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Westcreek
- ●One soil character for all of Westcreek
- ●Frost dates read at Westcreek's scale: May 10 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Westcreek's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Westcreek
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Westcreek, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Westcreek averages can't show:
We read public map data around Westcreek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Westcreek average
How we know this about Westcreek
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 Westcreek’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 Westcreek
When does frost risk typically end in Westcreek?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Westcreek typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Westcreek?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Westcreek typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 146 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Westcreek?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Westcreek sees about 146 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 19, about 111 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Westcreek?
The federal record around Westcreek shows 9 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (4), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Westcreek?
With about 146 frost-free days between hard freezes, Westcreek 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 174 to 202 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Westcreek's scale — its 5b band and its 146-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Westcreek'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 Westcreek’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Westcreek's own scale — its own ~146-day season between 28°F freezes, the 778 acres it covers and 9 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Westcreek's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Westcreek's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 3 and the ~146-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 9 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Westcreek, the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Westcreek's boundary and the 778 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~146-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Westcreek sits in the Southern Rockies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Westcreek's 778 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Douglas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Douglas 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 Douglas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Westcreek's 778 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Westcreek you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 778 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 Westcreek-wide figureread your own land →
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