Evergreen, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Evergreen, 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 Evergreen 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 Evergreen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Evergreen — the short answer
Evergreen, Montana: USDA zone 5b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Evergreen's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Evergreen's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Evergreen
Each reading below is measured for Evergreen itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEvergreen runs about 161 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredEvergreen 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 Evergreen is in
Evergreen sits in the Northern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Evergreen's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Flathead County is mostly Canadian Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Evergreen
Every plant below cleared Evergreen's own zone 5b and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Evergreen?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Evergreen
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Evergreen. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RIEBES MACHINE WORKS INCBrownfields · 1100 ft
- RMC KALISPELL SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- K MART 7030Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GAS SHACKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- 29N21W34CC 02Nitrate · 2500 ft
- FLATHEAD ELECTRIC COOP KALISPELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- KALISPELL ART FOUNDRYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- PLUM CREEK TIMBER CO KALISPELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WEYERHAEUSER-EVERGREENToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- WEYERHAEUSER-EVERGREENBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- EVERGREEN GAS & DELIUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BRIANS C STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Evergreen'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 Evergreen.
Total Sites
371
within ~10 miles of Evergreen
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Evergreen
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Evergreen
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Evergreen, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 118 sites within ~10 miles of Evergreen. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Evergreen
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 Evergreen average
Your land is one point inside Evergreen
Everything above resolves to Evergreen as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Evergreen Average
Evergreen Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Evergreen
- ●One soil character for all of Evergreen
- ●Frost dates read at Evergreen's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Evergreen's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Evergreen
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Evergreen, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Evergreen averages can't show:
We read public map data around Evergreen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Evergreen average
How we know this about Evergreen
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 Evergreen’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 Evergreen
When does frost risk typically end in Evergreen?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Evergreen typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Evergreen?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Evergreen typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Evergreen?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Evergreen sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 23, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Evergreen?
The federal record around Evergreen is a meaningful one — 371 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (173), the nearest Brownfields 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 I protect my plants from frost in Evergreen?
From about Sep 7 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Evergreen's scale — its 5b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Evergreen'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 Evergreen’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Evergreen's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,473 acres it covers and 371 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Evergreen's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Evergreen's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 7 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 371 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Evergreen, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Evergreen's boundary and the 5,473 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Evergreen 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 Evergreen's 5,473 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Flathead County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Flathead 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 Flathead County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Evergreen's 5,473 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Evergreen you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,473 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Evergreen-wide figureread your own land →
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