Wheat Ridge, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wheat Ridge, 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 Wheat Ridge 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 Wheat Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wheat Ridge — the short answer
Wheat Ridge, Colorado: USDA zone 6a, about 179 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- 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
- ~179
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Wheat Ridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wheat Ridge's 179-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wheat Ridge
Each reading below is measured for Wheat Ridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWheat Ridge runs about 179 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
MeasuredWheat Ridge 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 Wheat Ridge is in
Wheat Ridge sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wheat Ridge's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Jefferson County is mostly Southern Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Wheat Ridge
Every plant below cleared Wheat Ridge's own zone 6a and its 179-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wheat Ridge?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (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. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Wheat Ridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wheat Ridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Kipling Self ServeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Kipling Express LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ZOETIS REFERENCE LABORATORIESBrownfields · 1800 ft
- Circle K Store #2709870Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Wheat Ridge Parks & Recreation DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- West 44th Used CarsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Silver Oil Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- BUY BACK COMPUTERSBrownfields · 2200 ft
- Celibration Party RentalsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Farmers Market CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Unknown OwnerUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- UnknownUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wheat Ridge'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 Wheat Ridge.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wheat Ridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wheat Ridge
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.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Wheat Ridge
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 Wheat Ridge average
Your land is one point inside Wheat Ridge
Everything above resolves to Wheat Ridge as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 Wheat Ridge Average
Wheat Ridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Wheat Ridge
- ●One soil character for all of Wheat Ridge
- ●Frost dates read at Wheat Ridge's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wheat Ridge's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wheat Ridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wheat Ridge, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wheat Ridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wheat Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wheat Ridge average
How we know this about Wheat Ridge
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 Wheat Ridge’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 Wheat Ridge
When does frost risk typically end in Wheat Ridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wheat Ridge typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Wheat Ridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wheat Ridge 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 179 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wheat Ridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wheat Ridge sees about 179 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 4, about 144 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wheat Ridge?
The federal record around Wheat Ridge runs heavier than most — 4,280 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2,500), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 I protect my plants from frost in Wheat Ridge?
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 Wheat Ridge's scale — its 6a band and its 179-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wheat Ridge'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 Wheat Ridge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wheat Ridge's own scale — its own ~179-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,981 acres it covers and 4,280 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wheat Ridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wheat Ridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 18 and the ~179-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 4,280 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wheat Ridge, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wheat Ridge's boundary and the 5,981 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~179-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wheat Ridge sits in the High Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wheat Ridge's 5,981 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wheat Ridge's 5,981 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wheat Ridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,981 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Wheat Ridge-wide figureread your own land →
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