The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley spans USDA hardiness zones 4a-6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Two high valleys astride the Tetons where summer frost is never truly off the table — a 4a-6a band and a roughly 99-131-day window that make cold-hardy, fast, and season-extended the entire playbook. Among the crops suited to this profile: potato, lentil, rhubarb, and apple. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Your yard isn't all of the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley.
The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley spans USDA zones 4a-6a, but your parcel sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 Jackson Hole & Teton Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley — the short answer
The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley: USDA zones 4a-6a, 99–131 frost-free days depending where in it you stand, across 2 states.
- USDA zones
- 4a-6a
- USDA PHZM 2023, aggregated over the footprint
- Shortest season here
- 99 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020 — Kelly
- Towns
- 8
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Region type
- Town cluster
- Growable Ground growing-region registry
Region boundary: Growable Ground growing-region registry — curated county clusters, EPA Level III ecoregions, and town clusters drawn finer than any county. The season figure is this region's own record, measured across its 8 member towns, not a state or national average.
Hardiness Zone Range
The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley is not one growing season
One answer for the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley averages 8 towns whose growing seasons are 32 days apart — from 99 frost-free days in Kelly to 131 in Tetonia. That is the same region, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your land sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 8 towns runs 117–124 days, with a median of 120 days — a 32-day span end to end.
Measured across 8 member towns, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020. A member with no own record is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the region. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
Where the line runs inside the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
The middle half of the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley runs 117–124 frost-free days, and 4 of its 8 towns sit outside that — 2 on the short side, 2 on the long. A regional planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 117 frost-free days
2 towns
The end of the region that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
117–124 frost-free days
4 towns
0 of 4 shown
The middle half of the region, and the part a single regional season describes well.
Each town is placed by its OWN 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a site within its town as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
What Grows in the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
All 2 of the plants below that publish a season requirement clear even Kelly’s 99 frost-free days — so on season alone, this grid works at both ends of the region. The 32-day spread still decides how far past this list you can push, and how early you can start.
Plants matched to the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley's USDA zones 4a-6a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has across the region — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Native Plants of the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in all 2 states this region crosses, kept only where the published hardiness range meets the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley’s USDA zones 4a-6a — closest range match first. Presence is recorded by state, so a plant can be documented across the state and still be scarce in your corner of the region.
The ground around the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
The USDA soil survey maps this ground county by county. These are those records weighted by land area across the two counties containing the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley — the ground the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley sits in, read at the only grain the survey publishes.
In the counties containing the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, at 38% of mapped acres, followed by Alfisols (27%), Inceptisols (23%) and Entisols (10%). Six soil orders appear in that record, which is the honest reason a regional soil answer only goes so far. The most extensive named soils are Koffgo, Taglake, and Tineman.
83% of those acres are well drained, and another 3% somewhat poorly drained, 2% moderately well drained. Topsoil pH runs 5.6–7.4 between the lowest and the highest county on record.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Topsoil pH
5.6–7.4
Hydric soils
3%
Soil changes across a driveway, so which of these your own ground sits on is a parcel question rather than a regional one. Teton County holds the most wetland ground here, at 11% — soil types explained.
USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access
What this means for growing in the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
The soil survey reads this ground county by county, and the readings above are the record for the counties containing the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley. Here is what they mean for a garden here — and the move an experienced grower makes about each one.
Drainage
From county records83% of the mapped acres across the counties containing the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley are well drained — ground that drains quickly. The survey maps this ground county-wide, so it describes the setting the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley sits in rather than the valley floor alone.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
From county recordsTopsoil across the counties containing the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley runs pH 5.6–7.4 — near neutral in all two of them.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley — and how to grow with it.
Across the 2 counties containing the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley the federal record holds 701 documented sites, mostly Nitrate (426), Underground Storage Tanks (218) and Brownfields (46). The heaviest single county is Teton County, with 531.
That is the containing counties' count — this region is a smaller piece of that ground, so it is context, not a reading of any one lot. Open the map outlined to the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley to see which records sit where you actually grow.
Sources Checked
Summed across the 2 counties containing the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 426 sites across the 2 counties containing the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley. 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).
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Your land is one point inside the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
Everything above resolves to the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley as a whole — a footprint whose own towns record seasons 32 days apart, and hardiness across zones 4a-6a. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 region 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 regional average.
Your Lot vs the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley Average
Jackson Hole & Teton Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a-6a, averaged across Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jackson Hole & Teton Valley's 4a-6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, contamination, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jackson Hole & Teton Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley average
How we know this about the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
The boundary: the region's own towns — a footprint finer than any county, because the county average would misread this microclimate. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one, and every figure on this page was measured over the towns inside it rather than borrowed from the state around it.
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, aggregated across the footprint; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each member’s own record; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above; the soil from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, read at each member county’s own record and weighted to this footprint by land area. Where a member carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Common questions about the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
What hardiness zone is the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley?
The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley spans USDA hardiness zones 4a-6a, aggregated from the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 across the region's own towns. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 data.
How long is the growing season in the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley's towns mostly run 117 to 124 frost-free days, median 120 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991–2020, over 8 member towns). That 7-day spread is the honest read — no single season describes 8 towns, and each town guide below carries its own.
When does frost risk end in the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley?
Across the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley, the middle half of member towns see their last 28°F hard freeze between May 21 and May 29 (median May 25), and their first fall freeze between Sep 20 and Sep 24. Those are hard freezes, not the last light frost: tender transplants wait for about Jun 15, and elevation decides which end of a 8-day spread you garden in.
What grows well in the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley?
The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley's conditions suit plants such as Potato, Lentil, Rhubarb, Apple, Hop, Cherry. What actually thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage — we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
How is the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley defined?
The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley is a true microclimate — smaller than the counties that contain it, with a growing reality of its own. So this page is built from the region's own 8 towns, each carrying its own hardiness zone and frost record, rather than from a county average measured somewhere else.
Which states does the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley cover?
The Jackson Hole & Teton Valley spans Idaho and Wyoming. Each state's full growing guide is linked on this page.
What other growing regions cover the same states?
High Plains, Columbia Basin, Snake River Plain, Eastern Idaho (Upper Snake River Valley), Magic Valley, and Idaho Panhandle (North Idaho) share at least one state with the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley. Growing regions overlap and interlock — a single address can sit inside more than one, which is why the precise read is always the parcel, not the region.
What this page reads at the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley's own scale — the zone 4a-6a band across its footprint, a median 120-day season across its 8 towns and 701 documented federal contamination records across its 2 counties, 531 of them in Teton County alone; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- The USDA hardiness band 4a-6a aggregated across all 8 towns in the footprintUSDA PHZM 2023
- The boundary itself — the 8 towns this region is curated fromGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The growing character that makes this region distinct from the states it crossesGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The 28°F season across the footprint — the middle half of its 8 towns run 117 to 124 frost-free days, median 120NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- The federal contamination record over the whole footprint — 701 documented federal contamination records across its 2 counties, 531 of them in Teton County aloneEPA, USGS and USDA federal site records
- The soil order mix across the footprint — 38% Mollisols, topsoil pH 5.6–7.4, area-weighted across its 2 mapped countiesUSDA NRCS SSURGO
Inherited from a wider read
- The candidate plant list — all 2 member states' curated sets, merged and filtered to zones 4a-6afrom Idaho and Wyoming
What this page can’t tell you
- Which end of the 7-day range your ground sits at — 117 days at one extreme, 124 at the other, decided mostly by elevationfrost dates explained →
- Which of those soils your own ground sits on — the survey maps them county-wide, and they change across a drivewaysoil types explained →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on one specific lotwhy one lot differs from the next →
Explore the Jackson Hole & Teton Valley
State growing guides
Towns in this region
Counties containing this region
Other growing regions across Idaho and Wyoming
A semi-arid shortgrass tableland of deep soils and big sky, where wind, low rainfall, and irrigation shape dryland wheat, sorghum, and resilient gardens.
A dry basalt plateau of loess soils in the inland Northwest where irrigation turns arid ground into apple, cherry, hop, and wine-grape country.
A broad volcanic plain of deep ash-rich soils and long summer days, irrigated from the Snake River — the classic Idaho potato, hop, and sugar-beet country.
Eastern Idaho's Upper Snake River Valley is the cold, high-elevation head of the same volcanic plain that gives Boise its 7a warmth — but here the growing reality inverts. At roughly 4,500–6,000 ft, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Rexburg sit in USDA zones 5a–5b with about 130–165 frost-free days at the population centers (shorter still in the outlying mountain valleys like Bear Lake and Caribou), running 1.5–2 zones colder and 40–70 days shorter than the Treasure Valley downstream. Routine late-May frosts make this short-season, cold-hardy, high-desert growing — the mirror image of the plain's warm western end that the broad Snake River Plain page averages away.
The irrigated heart of south-central Idaho, where Snake River canal water — the "magic" that turned high desert into cropland after the 1905 Milner Dam and the Carey Act land tracts — feeds a tight 6a–6b band on volcanic-ash soils at roughly 3,700 feet. Cooler and far more uniform than the wider Snake River Plain that runs from balmy Boise (7a) to the frosty eastern plain (5b), this is Idaho's dairy, sugar-beet, dry-edible-bean, and malting-barley heartland, with the Snake River Canyon and Shoshone Falls cutting straight through it.
Forested, lake-and-mountain far-north Idaho — nothing like the arid Snake River Plain or the treeless Palouse wheat prairie to the south. Big glacial lakes (Pend Oreille, Coeur d'Alene) buffer both spring frost and summer heat across a humid-continental, higher-precipitation belt of cedar-and-hemlock forest soils. Expect USDA zones 6a–6b and a cool, wet-spring season of roughly 148–187 frost-free days (verified county climate data), with last frosts into mid-May in the northern valleys — a short, moist window the southern-Idaho and Palouse pages can't describe.