Pierce, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pierce, 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 Pierce 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 Pierce — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pierce — the short answer
Pierce, Idaho: USDA zone 6a, about 129 days between hard freezes, across 528 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~129
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 528 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 Pierce's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pierce's 129-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pierce
Each reading below is measured for Pierce itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPierce runs about 129 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
MeasuredPierce 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 Pierce is in
Pierce sits in the Northern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Pierce's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clearwater County.
What Grows in Pierce
Every plant below cleared Pierce's own zone 6a and its 129-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pierce?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 22 — 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 Pierce
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pierce. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HUNT OIL COMPANY (1)Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- GLEN WADDELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Pierce City DistrictMining · 1700 ft
- WEITAS GUARD STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- PIERCE WORK CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- PIERCE MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- ROBERT ALLENUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- HEADQUARTERS VARIETYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- PIERCE CENTRAL OFFICE (1240-BO1)Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- CARL NELSON TRUSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- THE OZARK GROUPSuperfund · 1.3 mi
- JAYPE PLYWOODUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pierce'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 Pierce.
Total Sites
25
within ~10 miles of Pierce
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pierce
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pierce
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pierce, Mining runs higher than the national average — 7 sites within ~10 miles of Pierce. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Pierce
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 Pierce average
Your land is one point inside Pierce
Everything above resolves to Pierce as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 528 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 Pierce Average
Pierce Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Pierce
- ●One soil character for all of Pierce
- ●Frost dates read at Pierce's scale: May 16 to Sep 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pierce's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pierce
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pierce, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pierce averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pierce — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pierce average
How we know this about Pierce
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 Pierce’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 Pierce
When does frost risk typically end in Pierce?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pierce typically lands around May 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 Jun 6.
When is the first frost in Pierce?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pierce typically arrives around Sep 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 8, so the watching starts about Aug 23 — about 129 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pierce?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pierce sees about 129 frost-free days — roughly May 16 through Sep 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 6 to Sep 8, about 94 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pierce?
The federal record around Pierce is a meaningful one — 25 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (12), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Pierce?
With about 129 frost-free days between hard freezes, Pierce 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 157 to 185 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 16 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Pierce's scale — its 6a band and its 129-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pierce'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 Pierce’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pierce's own scale — its own ~129-day season between 28°F freezes, the 528 acres it covers and 25 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pierce's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pierce's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 16 and Sep 22 and the ~129-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 25 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pierce, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pierce's boundary and the 528 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~129-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pierce's own centroid, the Northern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pierce's 528 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clearwater County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clearwater 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 Clearwater County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pierce's 528 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pierce you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 528 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Pierce-wide figureread your own land →
More in Idaho
Wider growing context
What grows across IdahoPierce sits outside our named growing regions, so Idaho as a whole is its closest context here.