Rangeley, Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rangeley, 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 Rangeley 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 Rangeley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rangeley — the short answer
Rangeley, Maine: USDA zone 4b, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 4b is Rangeley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rangeley's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rangeley
Each reading below is measured for Rangeley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRangeley runs about 147 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
MeasuredRangeley 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 Rangeley is in
Rangeley sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Rangeley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Franklin County.
What Grows in Rangeley
Every plant below cleared Rangeley's own zone 4b and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rangeley?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — 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 Rangeley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rangeley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LOONYBIN VARIETYUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- DOMS AUTO JEEP & CYCLEBrownfields · 1400 ft
- DOM'S AUTO & JEEP REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SEWER PUMPING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- RANGELEY LAKE ST PK MAINT AREAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- WELD UNITUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CUPSUPTIC UNITUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- BALD MOUNTAIN CAMPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- OQUOSSOC ANGLING ASSOCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- LAKESIDE CONVENIENCE & MARINA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MAIN ST GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- RANGELEY CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rangeley'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 Rangeley.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rangeley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rangeley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rangeley, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 25 sites within ~10 miles of Rangeley. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Rangeley
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 Rangeley average
Your land is one point inside Rangeley
Everything above resolves to Rangeley 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 town 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 Rangeley Average
Rangeley Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Rangeley
- ●One soil character for all of Rangeley
- ●Frost dates read at Rangeley's scale: May 12 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rangeley's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rangeley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rangeley, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rangeley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rangeley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rangeley average
How we know this about Rangeley
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Rangeley’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Rangeley
When does frost risk typically end in Rangeley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rangeley typically lands around May 12, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Rangeley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rangeley typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rangeley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rangeley sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 22, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rangeley?
The federal record around Rangeley is light — 39 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Rangeley?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Rangeley 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 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Rangeley's scale — its 4b band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rangeley'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 Rangeley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Rangeley's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,663 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rangeley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rangeley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 6 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rangeley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rangeley's boundary and the 1,663 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rangeley's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rangeley's 1,663 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Franklin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Franklin County
- The growing challenges every Maine grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Maine
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Franklin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rangeley's 1,663 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rangeley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,663 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 Rangeley-wide figureread your own land →