Breckenridge, Missouri, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Breckenridge, 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 Breckenridge 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 Breckenridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Breckenridge — the short answer
Breckenridge, Missouri: USDA zone 6a, about 207 days between hard freezes, across 351 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~207
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 351 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 Breckenridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Breckenridge's 207-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Breckenridge
Each reading below is measured for Breckenridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBreckenridge runs about 207 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBreckenridge 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 Breckenridge is in
Breckenridge sits in the Central Irregular Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Breckenridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Caldwell County.
What Grows in Breckenridge
Every plant below cleared Breckenridge's own zone 6a and its 207-day season. Each card opens that plant's Missouri profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Breckenridge?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Breckenridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Breckenridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BRECKENRIDGE R 1 SCHOOL DISTRICTBrownfields · 1300 ft
- PEMCO #280Underground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- FARMERS STONE TRAGER QUARRIES COUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- UNITED HOG SYSTEMS -Z5 SOW FARMCAFO · 4.3 mi
- CHUCK WELDON FARMCAFO · 5.2 mi
- T58N R26W 11DDA1Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- T58N R27W 33ADA1Nitrate · 6.9 mi
- JOHNSON LAND AND DEVELOPMENT CO.CAFO · 7.1 mi
- T57N R25W 24CDA1Nitrate · 8.2 mi
- SOUTHWEST LIVINGSTON CO R-I SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- GLEN-GERY CORPBrownfields · 9.2 mi
- GLEN-GERY CORPToxics Release Inventory · 9.2 mi
5 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Breckenridge'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 Breckenridge.
Total Sites
24
within ~10 miles of Breckenridge
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Breckenridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Breckenridge
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Breckenridge
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 Breckenridge average
Your land is one point inside Breckenridge
Everything above resolves to Breckenridge as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 351 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 Breckenridge Average
Breckenridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Breckenridge
- ●One soil character for all of Breckenridge
- ●Frost dates read at Breckenridge's scale: Apr 5 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Breckenridge's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Breckenridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Breckenridge, Missouri — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Breckenridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Breckenridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Breckenridge average
How we know this about Breckenridge
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 Breckenridge’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 Breckenridge
When does frost risk typically end in Breckenridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Breckenridge typically lands around Apr 5, 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 Apr 26.
When is the first frost in Breckenridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Breckenridge typically arrives around Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 15, so the watching starts about Sep 29 — about 207 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Breckenridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Breckenridge sees about 207 frost-free days — roughly Apr 5 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 26 to Oct 15, about 172 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Breckenridge?
The federal record around Breckenridge is light — 24 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (12), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 I protect my plants from frost in Breckenridge?
From about Sep 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Breckenridge's scale — its 6a band and its 207-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Breckenridge'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 Breckenridge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Breckenridge's own scale — its own ~207-day season between 28°F freezes, the 351 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Breckenridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Breckenridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 5 and Oct 29 and the ~207-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Breckenridge, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Breckenridge's boundary and the 351 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~207-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Breckenridge's own centroid, the Central Irregular PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Breckenridge's 351 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Caldwell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Caldwell County
- The growing challenges every Missouri grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Missouri
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Caldwell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Breckenridge's 351 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Breckenridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 351 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Breckenridge-wide figureread your own land →
More in Missouri
Wider growing context
What grows across MissouriBreckenridge sits outside our named growing regions, so Missouri as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides