Ennis, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Ennis, 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 Ennis 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 Ennis — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ennis — the short answer
Ennis, Montana: USDA zone 5b, about 137 days between hard freezes, across 472 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~137
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 472 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 Ennis's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ennis's 137-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ennis
Each reading below is measured for Ennis itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEnnis runs about 137 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
MeasuredEnnis 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 Ennis is in
Ennis sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Ennis's own centroid rather than borrowed from Madison County.
What Grows in Ennis
Every plant below cleared Ennis's own zone 5b and its 137-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ennis?
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 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 27 — 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 Ennis
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ennis. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ENNIS SCHOOL DIST 52Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- MADISON COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- VALLEY GARDEN RANCH INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- COUNTY ROAD CREWUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- MADISON PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- KEYLOCK PUMPSUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- MADISON VALLEY HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- MADISON COUNTY NURSING HOME ENNISUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- TOWN PUMP INC ENNISUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- SUSAN SNYDER PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- ENNIS TOWN HALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- 06S01W04ACCB01Nitrate · 1100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ennis'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 Ennis.
Total Sites
75
within ~10 miles of Ennis
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ennis
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ennis
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ennis, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Ennis. 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 Ennis
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 Ennis average
Your land is one point inside Ennis
Everything above resolves to Ennis as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 472 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 Ennis Average
Ennis Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Ennis
- ●One soil character for all of Ennis
- ●Frost dates read at Ennis's scale: May 13 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ennis's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ennis
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ennis, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ennis averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ennis — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ennis average
How we know this about Ennis
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 Ennis’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 Ennis
When does frost risk typically end in Ennis?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ennis typically lands around May 13, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Ennis?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ennis typically arrives around Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 13, so the watching starts about Aug 28 — about 137 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ennis?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ennis sees about 137 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 13, about 102 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ennis?
The federal record around Ennis is a meaningful one — 75 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (40), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Ennis?
With about 137 frost-free days between hard freezes, Ennis 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 165 to 193 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Ennis's scale — its 5b band and its 137-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ennis'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 Ennis’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ennis's own scale — its own ~137-day season between 28°F freezes, the 472 acres it covers and 75 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ennis's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ennis's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 13 and Sep 27 and the ~137-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 75 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ennis, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ennis's boundary and the 472 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~137-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ennis's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ennis's 472 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Madison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Madison 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 Madison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ennis's 472 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ennis you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 472 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 Ennis-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaEnnis sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides