Lowman, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lowman, 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 Lowman 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 Lowman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lowman — the short answer
Lowman, Idaho: USDA zone 6a, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Lowman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lowman's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lowman
Each reading below is measured for Lowman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLowman runs about 151 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
MeasuredLowman 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 Lowman is in
Lowman sits in the Idaho Batholith — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Lowman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Boise County.
What Grows in Lowman
Every plant below cleared Lowman's own zone 6a and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lowman?
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 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — 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 Lowman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lowman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 09N 07E 34ABB1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- SOUTHFORK LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- OPEN DOOR STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HAVEN LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- Golden Cycle MineMining · 4.6 mi
- Sarvis ProspectMining · 5.4 mi
- Banner MineMining · 5.6 mi
- Banner DistrictMining · 5.6 mi
- Silver Key ProspectMining · 5.8 mi
- Mammoth MineMining · 6.2 mi
- Edna MineMining · 6.4 mi
- LOWMAN OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lowman'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 Lowman.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lowman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lowman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lowman, Mining runs higher than the national average — 27 sites within ~10 miles of Lowman. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Lowman
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 Lowman average
Your land is one point inside Lowman
Everything above resolves to Lowman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Lowman Average
Lowman Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Lowman
- ●One soil character for all of Lowman
- ●Frost dates read at Lowman's scale: May 7 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lowman's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lowman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lowman, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lowman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lowman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lowman average
How we know this about Lowman
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 Lowman’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 Lowman
When does frost risk typically end in Lowman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lowman typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Lowman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lowman typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lowman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lowman sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 21, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lowman?
The federal record around Lowman runs heavier than most — 39 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (27), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Lowman?
From about Sep 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lowman's scale — its 6a band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lowman'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 Lowman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lowman's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,298 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lowman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lowman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 5 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lowman, the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lowman's boundary and the 1,298 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lowman's own centroid, the Idaho BatholithUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lowman's 1,298 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Boise County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Boise 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 Boise County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lowman's 1,298 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lowman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,298 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Lowman-wide figureread your own land →
More in Idaho
Growing region
Nearby growing guides