Hardy, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hardy, 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 Hardy 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 Hardy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hardy — the short answer
Hardy, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 724 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- 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 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 724 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 4b is Hardy's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hardy's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hardy
Each reading below is measured for Hardy itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHardy runs about 166 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
MeasuredHardy sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Hardy is in
Hardy sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hardy's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Cascade County is mostly Northwestern Glaciated Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Hardy
Every plant below cleared Hardy's own zone 4b and its 166-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hardy?
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 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 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Hardy
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hardy. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MALMSTROM AFB G 4Underground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB G 5Underground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB G 3Underground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB I 6Underground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
- MATTSON LUMBER COUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- HIGHWAY GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- SULLIVAN MICROWAVE SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- OLD CASCADE GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- J & W OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- LORANG BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- AVIS RENT A CARUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- TOMS IGAUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
3 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hardy'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 Hardy.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hardy
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 Hardy
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 Hardy average
Your land is one point inside Hardy
Everything above resolves to Hardy as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 724 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 Hardy Average
Hardy Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Hardy
- ●One soil character for all of Hardy
- ●Frost dates read at Hardy's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hardy's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hardy
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hardy, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hardy averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hardy — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hardy average
How we know this about Hardy
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 Hardy’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 Hardy
When does frost risk typically end in Hardy?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hardy 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 Hardy?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hardy typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hardy?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hardy sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 28, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hardy?
The federal record around Hardy is light — 17 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (13), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 7.6 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 I protect my plants from frost in Hardy?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hardy's scale — its 4b band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hardy'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 Hardy’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hardy's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 724 acres it covers and 17 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hardy's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hardy's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 12 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 17 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hardy, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 7.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hardy's boundary and the 724 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Hardy sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hardy's 724 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cascade County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cascade 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 Cascade County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hardy's 724 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hardy you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 724 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 7.6 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 Hardy-wide figureread your own land →