Cascade, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include okra, cranberry, lavender, and pumpkin, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cascade, 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 Cascade 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 Cascade — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cascade — the short answer
Cascade, Idaho: USDA zone 5a, about 114 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~114
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 5a is Cascade's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cascade's 114-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cascade
Each reading below is measured for Cascade itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCascade runs about 114 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
MeasuredCascade sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Cascade is in
Cascade sits in the Idaho Batholith — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Cascade's own centroid rather than borrowed from Valley County.
What Grows in Cascade
Every plant below cleared Cascade's own zone 5a and its 114-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cascade?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Cascade
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cascade. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CASCADE STATION MP 99Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- BUREAU OF RECLAMATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- VALLEY COUNTY ROADS AND WEED CONTROLBrownfields · 2200 ft
- VALLEY COUNTY ROAD DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- PONDEROSA ELECTRIC & SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- United Oil-CascadeUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- CASCADE SAWMILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- SNOWBANK MOUNTAIN ARSR-2Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- WARM LAKE PROJECT CAMPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Arnold AviationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Crawford Guard StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- DEADWOOD FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cascade'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 Cascade.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cascade
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cascade
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cascade, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of Cascade. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Cascade
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 Cascade average
Your land is one point inside Cascade
Everything above resolves to Cascade as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Cascade Average
Cascade Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Cascade
- ●One soil character for all of Cascade
- ●Frost dates read at Cascade's scale: May 27 to Sep 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cascade's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cascade
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cascade, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cascade averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cascade — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cascade average
How we know this about Cascade
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 Cascade’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 Cascade
When does frost risk typically end in Cascade?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cascade typically lands around May 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Cascade?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cascade typically arrives around Sep 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 4, so the watching starts about Aug 19 — about 114 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cascade?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cascade sees about 114 frost-free days — roughly May 27 through Sep 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 17 to Sep 4, about 79 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cascade?
The federal record around Cascade is light — 46 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Cascade?
With about 114 frost-free days between hard freezes, Cascade 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 142 to 170 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 27 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Cascade's scale — its 5a band and its 114-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cascade'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 Cascade’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cascade's own scale — its own ~114-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,639 acres it covers and 46 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cascade's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cascade's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 27 and Sep 18 and the ~114-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 46 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cascade, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cascade's boundary and the 2,639 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~114-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cascade's own centroid, the Idaho BatholithUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cascade's 2,639 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Valley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Valley 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 Valley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cascade's 2,639 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cascade you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,639 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 Cascade-wide figureread your own land →
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