Busby, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Busby, 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 Busby 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 Busby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Busby — the short answer
Busby, Montana: USDA zone 4a, about 131 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~131
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 9K 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 4a is Busby's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Busby's 131-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Busby
Each reading below is measured for Busby itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBusby runs about 131 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
MeasuredBusby sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Busby is in
Busby sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Busby's own centroid rather than borrowed from Big Horn County.
What Grows in Busby
Every plant below cleared Busby's own zone 4a and its 131-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Busby?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 26 — 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 Busby
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Busby. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 04S38E01ABBD01Nitrate · 2400 ft
- MDOT F37 BUSBY SITE STATION 1346Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- MDOT BUSBY SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- CUSTERS LAST CAMP T PUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- MDOT F37 BUSBY SITE STATION 1312Underground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
Measured from Busby'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 Busby.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Busby
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Busby
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 Busby average
Your land is one point inside Busby
Everything above resolves to Busby as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 9K 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 Busby Average
Busby Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Busby
- ●One soil character for all of Busby
- ●Frost dates read at Busby's scale: May 18 to Sep 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Busby's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Busby
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Busby, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Busby averages can't show:
We read public map data around Busby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Busby average
How we know this about Busby
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 Busby’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 Busby
When does frost risk typically end in Busby?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Busby typically lands around May 18, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Busby?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Busby typically arrives around Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 12, so the watching starts about Aug 27 — about 131 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Busby?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Busby sees about 131 frost-free days — roughly May 18 through Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 8 to Sep 12, about 96 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Busby?
The federal record around Busby is light — 6 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (4), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Busby?
With about 131 frost-free days between hard freezes, Busby 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 159 to 187 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 18 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Busby's scale — its 4a band and its 131-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Busby'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 Busby’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Busby's own scale — its own ~131-day season between 28°F freezes, the 9,163 acres it covers and 6 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Busby's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Busby's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 18 and Sep 26 and the ~131-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 6 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Busby, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Busby's boundary and the 9,163 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~131-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Busby's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Busby's 9,163 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Big Horn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Big Horn 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 Big Horn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Busby's 9,163 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Busby you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,163 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Busby-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaBusby sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides