Bliss, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Bliss, 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 Bliss 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 Bliss — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bliss — the short answer
Bliss, Idaho: USDA zone 7a, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 472 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 472 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 7a is Bliss's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bliss's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bliss
Each reading below is measured for Bliss itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBliss runs about 191 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
MeasuredBliss sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Bliss is in
Bliss sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Bliss's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gooding County.
What Grows in Bliss
Every plant below cleared Bliss's own zone 7a and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bliss?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — 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 Bliss
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bliss. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RALPH WALSTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- ROBERT L GRUBBSUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Stinker Station #71Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- BLISS SCHOOL DIST 234Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- OAKDELL FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Union Pacific RR BlissUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- ITD BLISS MTCE YARD #43000Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- 06S 13E 06DCA1Nitrate · 2400 ft
- 06S 13E 05ABC1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 05S 13E 32CCC1Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 06S 12E 25DAA1Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- 05S 13E 16CDD1Nitrate · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bliss'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 Bliss.
Total Sites
215
within ~10 miles of Bliss
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bliss
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bliss
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bliss, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bliss — Nitrate (184 sites) and CAFO (4 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Bliss
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 Bliss average
Your land is one point inside Bliss
Everything above resolves to Bliss as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 472 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 Bliss Average
Bliss Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Bliss
- ●One soil character for all of Bliss
- ●Frost dates read at Bliss's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bliss's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bliss
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bliss, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bliss averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bliss — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bliss average
How we know this about Bliss
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 Bliss’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 Bliss
When does frost risk typically end in Bliss?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bliss typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Bliss?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bliss typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bliss?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bliss sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 10, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bliss?
The federal record around Bliss is a meaningful one — 215 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (184), 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 Bliss?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bliss's scale — its 7a band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bliss'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 Bliss’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bliss's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 472 acres it covers and 215 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bliss's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bliss's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 24 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 215 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bliss, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bliss's boundary and the 472 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~191-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bliss's own centroid, the Snake River PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bliss's 472 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gooding County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gooding County
- The growing challenges every Idaho grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Idaho
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Gooding County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bliss's 472 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bliss you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 472 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 Bliss-wide figureread your own land →