Montpelier, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Montpelier, 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 Montpelier 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 Montpelier — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Montpelier — the short answer
Montpelier, Idaho: USDA zone 4b, about 125 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~125
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 4b is Montpelier's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Montpelier's 125-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Montpelier
Each reading below is measured for Montpelier itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMontpelier runs about 125 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
MeasuredMontpelier sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Montpelier is in
Montpelier sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Montpelier's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bear Lake County.
What Grows in Montpelier
Every plant below cleared Montpelier's own zone 4b and its 125-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Montpelier?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Montpelier
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Montpelier. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HANSON OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- LDS Welfare ServicesUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- CHARLES C NICHOLLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MONTPELIER BISHOP'S STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- U SAVE CONVENIENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- JJ'S Chevron Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- MONTPELIER WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- MONTPELIER TRI-MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CHEVRON USA #77238Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MAVERIK COUNTRY STORE #236Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HARER STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MONTPELIER K.O.A.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Montpelier'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 Montpelier.
Total Sites
76
within ~10 miles of Montpelier
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Montpelier
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Montpelier
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Montpelier, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Montpelier — Mining (9 sites) and Nitrate (34 sites). 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Montpelier
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 Montpelier average
Your land is one point inside Montpelier
Everything above resolves to Montpelier 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 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 Montpelier Average
Montpelier Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Montpelier
- ●One soil character for all of Montpelier
- ●Frost dates read at Montpelier's scale: May 17 to Sep 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Montpelier's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Montpelier
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Montpelier, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Montpelier averages can't show:
We read public map data around Montpelier — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Montpelier average
How we know this about Montpelier
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 Montpelier’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 Montpelier
When does frost risk typically end in Montpelier?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Montpelier typically lands around May 17, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Montpelier?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Montpelier typically arrives around Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 5, so the watching starts about Aug 20 — about 125 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Montpelier?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Montpelier sees about 125 frost-free days — roughly May 17 through Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 7 to Sep 5, about 90 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Montpelier?
The federal record around Montpelier is a meaningful one — 76 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (34), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Montpelier?
With about 125 frost-free days between hard freezes, Montpelier 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 153 to 181 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 17 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Montpelier's scale — its 4b band and its 125-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Montpelier'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 Montpelier’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Montpelier's own scale — its own ~125-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,484 acres it covers and 76 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Montpelier's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Montpelier's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 17 and Sep 19 and the ~125-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 76 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Montpelier, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Montpelier's boundary and the 1,484 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~125-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Montpelier's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Montpelier's 1,484 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bear Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bear Lake 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 Bear Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Montpelier's 1,484 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Montpelier you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,484 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 Montpelier-wide figureread your own land →