Conner, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Conner, 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 Conner 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 Conner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Conner — the short answer
Conner, Montana: USDA zone 5b, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- 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
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 5b is Conner's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Conner's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Conner
Each reading below is measured for Conner itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredConner runs about 147 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
MeasuredConner sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Conner is in
Conner sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Conner's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Ravalli County is mostly Idaho Batholith. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Conner
Every plant below cleared Conner's own zone 5b and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Conner?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (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. 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 Conner
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Conner. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MEADOW LARK MULCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- 02N20W18DBAC01Nitrate · 1500 ft
- 02N20W07CABC01Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- 02N20W07BCCC01Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 02N21W01CACD01Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- RCRUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- TRAPPER CREEK JOB CORPS CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- MDOT LOST TRAIL SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- WEST FORK LODGE USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- CHARLES & SANDRA PILGRIMUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- RYE CREEK LLCBrownfields · 6.4 mi
- OLES COUNTRY STORE 6Underground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Conner'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 Conner.
Total Sites
39
within ~10 miles of Conner
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Conner
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Conner
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Conner, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Conner. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Conner
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 Conner average
Your land is one point inside Conner
Everything above resolves to Conner as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Conner Average
Conner Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Conner
- ●One soil character for all of Conner
- ●Frost dates read at Conner's scale: May 7 to Oct 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Conner's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Conner
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Conner, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Conner averages can't show:
We read public map data around Conner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Conner average
How we know this about Conner
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 Conner’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 Conner
When does frost risk typically end in Conner?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Conner typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Conner?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Conner 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 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Conner?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Conner sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 17, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Conner?
The federal record around Conner is a meaningful one — 39 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (18), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 gardeners stretch the season in Conner?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Conner 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 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 7 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Conner's scale — its 5b band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Conner'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 Conner’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Conner's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,139 acres it covers and 39 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Conner's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Conner's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 1 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 39 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Conner, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Conner's boundary and the 1,139 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Conner sits in the Middle 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 Conner's 1,139 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ravalli County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ravalli 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 Ravalli County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Conner's 1,139 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Conner you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,139 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Conner-wide figureread your own land →
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