Hollister, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hollister, 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 Hollister 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 Hollister — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hollister — the short answer
Hollister, Idaho: USDA zone 6b, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 685 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 685 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 6b is Hollister's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hollister's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hollister
Each reading below is measured for Hollister itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHollister runs about 173 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
MeasuredHollister sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Hollister is in
Hollister sits in the Northern Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Hollister's own centroid rather than borrowed from Twin Falls County.
What Grows in Hollister
Every plant below cleared Hollister's own zone 6b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hollister?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Hollister
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hollister. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Oasis Stop N Go #23Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SMOKY'S BAR AND GRILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- 12S 16E 34BCB2Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 12S 16E 34BCA1Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 13S 16E 03BBC2Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 13S 16E 09BBB1Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- 12S 16E 36BBA1Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- 13S 16E 08BBAC1Nitrate · 2.9 mi
- 13S 16E 07AAA1Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- SESSIONS STAR STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- 12S 16E 25ABA1Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- 12S 16E 36DBC2Nitrate · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hollister'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 Hollister.
Total Sites
105
within ~10 miles of Hollister
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hollister
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hollister
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hollister, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 96 sites within ~10 miles of Hollister. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Hollister
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 Hollister average
Your land is one point inside Hollister
Everything above resolves to Hollister as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 685 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 Hollister Average
Hollister Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Hollister
- ●One soil character for all of Hollister
- ●Frost dates read at Hollister's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hollister's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hollister
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hollister, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hollister averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hollister — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hollister average
How we know this about Hollister
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 Hollister’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 Hollister
When does frost risk typically end in Hollister?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hollister typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Hollister?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hollister typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hollister?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hollister sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 2, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hollister?
The federal record around Hollister shows 105 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (96), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 I protect my plants from frost in Hollister?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hollister's scale — its 6b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hollister'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 Hollister’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hollister's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 685 acres it covers and 105 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hollister's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hollister's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 16 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 105 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hollister, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hollister's boundary and the 685 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hollister's own centroid, the Northern Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hollister's 685 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Twin Falls County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Twin Falls 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 Twin Falls County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hollister's 685 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hollister you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 685 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Hollister-wide figureread your own land →
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