Bridger, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Bridger, 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 Bridger 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 Bridger — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bridger — the short answer
Bridger, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 163 days between hard freezes, across 539 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~163
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 539 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 Bridger's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bridger's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bridger
Each reading below is measured for Bridger itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBridger runs about 163 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
MeasuredBridger 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 Bridger is in
Bridger sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Bridger's own centroid rather than borrowed from Carbon County.
What Grows in Bridger
Every plant below cleared Bridger's own zone 5a and its 163-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bridger?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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 Bridger
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bridger. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BRIDGER SCHOOL DIST 2Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- BRIDGER AIRPORT 512765Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- RICHARD R HIRSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- TOWN & COUNTRY SUPPLY BRIDGERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- USFS PLANT MATERIALS CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MDOT BRIDGER MAINTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MDOT BRIDGER SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- DRY CREEK COMPRESSOR STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- ALBERT SCHWENDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- TEESDALE OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- BRIDGER AIRPORT 513760Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CARBON COUNTY SHOP USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bridger'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 Bridger.
Total Sites
64
within ~10 miles of Bridger
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bridger
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bridger
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bridger, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 42 sites within ~10 miles of Bridger. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Bridger
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 Bridger average
Your land is one point inside Bridger
Everything above resolves to Bridger as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 539 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 Bridger Average
Bridger Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Bridger
- ●One soil character for all of Bridger
- ●Frost dates read at Bridger's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bridger's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bridger
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bridger, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bridger averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bridger — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bridger average
How we know this about Bridger
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 Bridger’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 Bridger
When does frost risk typically end in Bridger?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bridger typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Bridger?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bridger typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 163 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bridger?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bridger sees about 163 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 24, about 128 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bridger?
The federal record around Bridger is a meaningful one — 64 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (42), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 I protect my plants from frost in Bridger?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bridger's scale — its 5a band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bridger'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 Bridger’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bridger's own scale — its own ~163-day season between 28°F freezes, the 539 acres it covers and 64 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bridger's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bridger's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 8 and the ~163-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 64 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bridger, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bridger's boundary and the 539 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~163-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bridger's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bridger's 539 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Carbon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Carbon County
- The growing challenges every Montana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Montana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Carbon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bridger's 539 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bridger you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 539 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bridger-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaBridger sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.