Sugar City, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Sugar City, 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 Sugar City 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 Sugar City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sugar City — the short answer
Sugar City, Idaho: USDA zone 5a, about 144 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~144
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Sugar City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sugar City's 144-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sugar City
Each reading below is measured for Sugar City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSugar City runs about 144 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
MeasuredSugar City 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 Sugar City is in
Sugar City sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Sugar City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Madison County.
What Grows in Sugar City
Every plant below cleared Sugar City's own zone 5a and its 144-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sugar City?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 30 — 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 Sugar City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sugar City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MILES PRODUCE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- SUGAR CITY SCHOOL DIST #322Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- MAVERIK COUNTRY STORE #149Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Brad's ExxonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CITY OF SUGAR CITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SHARP BROS FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- SUGAR CITY MTCE YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Pocock TruckingUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICE - REXBURG CENTERBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- 06N 40E 05BBC1Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- NED'S MOODY CREEK PRODUCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- CENEX LAND O LAKESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sugar City'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 Sugar City.
Total Sites
306
within ~10 miles of Sugar City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sugar City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sugar City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sugar City, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 140 sites within ~10 miles of Sugar City. 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 Sugar City
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 Sugar City average
Your land is one point inside Sugar City
Everything above resolves to Sugar City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Sugar City Average
Sugar City Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Sugar City
- ●One soil character for all of Sugar City
- ●Frost dates read at Sugar City's scale: May 9 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sugar City's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sugar City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sugar City, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sugar City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sugar City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sugar City average
How we know this about Sugar City
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 Sugar City’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 Sugar City
When does frost risk typically end in Sugar City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sugar City typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Sugar City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sugar City typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 144 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sugar City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sugar City sees about 144 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 16, about 109 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sugar City?
The federal record around Sugar City is a meaningful one — 306 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (141), 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 Sugar City?
With about 144 frost-free days between hard freezes, Sugar City 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 172 to 200 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 9 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Sugar City's scale — its 5a band and its 144-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sugar City'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 Sugar City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Sugar City's own scale — its own ~144-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,624 acres it covers and 306 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sugar City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sugar City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Sep 30 and the ~144-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 306 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sugar City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sugar City's boundary and the 1,624 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~144-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sugar City's own centroid, the Snake River PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sugar City's 1,624 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Madison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Madison 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 Madison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sugar City's 1,624 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sugar City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,624 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 Sugar City-wide figureread your own land →