Clinton, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Clinton, 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 Clinton 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 Clinton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clinton — the short answer
Clinton, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- 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 5a is Clinton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clinton's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Clinton
Each reading below is measured for Clinton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredClinton runs about 149 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
MeasuredClinton 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 Clinton is in
Clinton sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Clinton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Missoula County.
What Grows in Clinton
Every plant below cleared Clinton's own zone 5a and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clinton?
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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Clinton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clinton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CLINTON MARKET E MULLAN RDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CLINTON MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 11N17W02ABCB01Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- Eureka Mining Co.Mining · 2.5 mi
- Jack Pot MineMining · 2.6 mi
- Blue LodeMining · 2.6 mi
- Hidden Treasure MineMining · 2.7 mi
- Hidden TreasureMining · 2.7 mi
- Grass WidowMining · 2.7 mi
- KlondikeMining · 2.7 mi
- SenateMining · 2.7 mi
- Hobo ClaimMining · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clinton'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 Clinton.
Total Sites
81
within ~10 miles of Clinton
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clinton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clinton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Clinton, Mining runs higher than the national average — 50 sites within ~10 miles of Clinton. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Clinton
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 Clinton average
Your land is one point inside Clinton
Everything above resolves to Clinton 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 Clinton Average
Clinton Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Clinton
- ●One soil character for all of Clinton
- ●Frost dates read at Clinton's scale: May 5 to Oct 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clinton's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clinton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clinton, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clinton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clinton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clinton average
How we know this about Clinton
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 Clinton’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 Clinton
When does frost risk typically end in Clinton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clinton typically lands around May 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 May 26.
When is the first frost in Clinton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clinton typically arrives around Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 17, so the watching starts about Sep 1 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Clinton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clinton sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 17, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clinton?
The federal record around Clinton runs heavier than most — 81 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (50), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Clinton?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Clinton 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 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 5 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Clinton's scale — its 5a band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clinton'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 Clinton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Clinton's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,094 acres it covers and 81 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clinton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Clinton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 1 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 81 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clinton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clinton's boundary and the 2,094 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Clinton's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Clinton's 2,094 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Missoula County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Missoula 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 Missoula County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clinton's 2,094 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clinton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,094 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Clinton-wide figureread your own land →
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