Cimarron, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Cimarron, 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 Cimarron 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 Cimarron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cimarron — the short answer
Cimarron, Kansas: USDA zone 6b, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 737 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 737 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 6b is Cimarron's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cimarron's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cimarron
Each reading below is measured for Cimarron itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCimarron runs about 199 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
MeasuredCimarron sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Cimarron is in
Cimarron sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Cimarron's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gray County.
What Grows in Cimarron
Every plant below cleared Cimarron's own zone 6b and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cimarron?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Cimarron
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cimarron. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- USD #102Underground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- GRAIN GROWERS COOPERATIVE ASSNUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- CIRCLE K STORES, INC, 2721609Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MAGOUIRKS OF CIMARRONBrownfields · 1200 ft
- AERIAL SPRAYERS INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- RONS TRACTOR & TRUCK SVCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- GRASSER OIL CO. (SOIL VENT)Brownfields · 1800 ft
- CIMARRON, CITY OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HILKERS RETAIL OUTLET, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- LACY & TOOTHAKER RPR SHOPBrownfields · 2400 ft
- OSBORN 66 SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- HILKER OIL COMPANY INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cimarron'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 Cimarron.
Total Sites
89
within ~10 miles of Cimarron
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
14 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cimarron
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cimarron
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cimarron, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Cimarron — CAFO (14 sites) and Nitrate (38 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Cimarron
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 Cimarron average
Your land is one point inside Cimarron
Everything above resolves to Cimarron as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 737 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 Cimarron Average
Cimarron Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Cimarron
- ●One soil character for all of Cimarron
- ●Frost dates read at Cimarron's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cimarron's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cimarron
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cimarron, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cimarron averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cimarron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cimarron average
How we know this about Cimarron
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 Cimarron’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 Cimarron
When does frost risk typically end in Cimarron?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cimarron typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Cimarron?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cimarron typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cimarron?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cimarron sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 12, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cimarron?
The federal record around Cimarron shows 89 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Cimarron?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cimarron's scale — its 6b band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cimarron'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 Cimarron’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cimarron's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 737 acres it covers and 89 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cimarron's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cimarron's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 26 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 89 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cimarron, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cimarron's boundary and the 737 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cimarron's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cimarron's 737 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gray County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gray County
- The growing challenges every Kansas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Kansas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Gray County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cimarron's 737 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cimarron you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 737 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 Cimarron-wide figureread your own land →
More in Kansas
Growing region
Nearby growing guides