Condon, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Condon, 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 Condon 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 Condon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Condon — the short answer
Condon, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 132 days between hard freezes, across 14K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~132
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 14K 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 Condon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Condon's 132-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Condon
Each reading below is measured for Condon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCondon runs about 132 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
MeasuredCondon 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 Condon is in
Condon sits in the Northern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Condon's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Missoula County is mostly Middle Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Condon
Every plant below cleared Condon's own zone 5a and its 132-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Condon?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 23 — 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 Condon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Condon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SWAN VALLEY CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- NELSONS GROCERY & HUSKY SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- CONDON WORK CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- SWAN VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- MISSION MOUNTAINS MERCANTILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- HOLLAND LAKE LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- BN SALMON LAKE MICROWAVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST LDS SEELEY LAKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- MISSOULA COUNTY ROAD DEPT SEELEY LAKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- MISSOULA ELECTRIC COOP INC SEELEY LAKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- DANS DISCOUNT AND EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- SEELEY SHORESUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
3 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Condon'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 Condon.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Condon
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 Condon
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 Condon average
Your land is one point inside Condon
Everything above resolves to Condon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 14K 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 Condon Average
Condon Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Condon
- ●One soil character for all of Condon
- ●Frost dates read at Condon's scale: May 14 to Sep 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Condon's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Condon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Condon, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Condon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Condon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Condon average
How we know this about Condon
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 Condon’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 Condon
When does frost risk typically end in Condon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Condon typically lands around May 14, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Condon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Condon typically arrives around Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 9, so the watching starts about Aug 24 — about 132 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Condon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Condon sees about 132 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 9, about 97 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Condon?
The federal record around Condon is light — 16 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (14), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Condon?
With about 132 frost-free days between hard freezes, Condon 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 160 to 188 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Condon's scale — its 5a band and its 132-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Condon'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 Condon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Condon's own scale — its own ~132-day season between 28°F freezes, the 13,695 acres it covers and 16 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Condon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Condon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 14 and Sep 23 and the ~132-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 16 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Condon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Condon's boundary and the 13,695 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~132-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Condon sits in the Northern Rockies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Condon's 13,695 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 Condon's 13,695 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Condon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,695 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Condon-wide figureread your own land →
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