Hilldale Colony, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hilldale Colony, 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 Hilldale Colony 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 Hilldale Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hilldale Colony — the short answer
Hilldale Colony, Montana: USDA zone 3b, about 145 days between hard freezes, across 225 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- 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
- ~145
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 225 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 3b is Hilldale Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hilldale Colony's 145-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hilldale Colony
Each reading below is measured for Hilldale Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHilldale Colony runs about 145 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
MeasuredHilldale Colony sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 Hilldale Colony is in
Hilldale Colony sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hilldale Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hill County.
What Grows in Hilldale Colony
Every plant below cleared Hilldale Colony's own zone 3b and its 145-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hilldale Colony?
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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (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 Hilldale Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hilldale Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 35N15E09CDCA01Nitrate · 900 ft
- HILLDALE COLONY CAFOCAFO · 1500 ft
- 35N16E18ADDB01Nitrate · 4.7 mi
- 35N16E33ADCB01Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- HAVRE CITY OFPFAS · 7.8 mi
- HENRY VERPLOEGENUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- US COAST GUARD LORSTA HAVREBrownfields · 9.2 mi
- 34N14E25CCBB01Nitrate · 9.7 mi
Measured from Hilldale Colony'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 Hilldale Colony.
Total Sites
12
within ~10 miles of Hilldale Colony
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hilldale Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hilldale Colony
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Hilldale Colony
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 Hilldale Colony average
Your land is one point inside Hilldale Colony
Everything above resolves to Hilldale Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 225 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 Hilldale Colony Average
Hilldale Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Hilldale Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Hilldale Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Hilldale Colony's scale: May 5 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hilldale Colony's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hilldale Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hilldale Colony, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hilldale Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hilldale Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hilldale Colony average
How we know this about Hilldale Colony
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 Hilldale Colony’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 Hilldale Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Hilldale Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hilldale Colony typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Hilldale Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hilldale Colony 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 145 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hilldale Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hilldale Colony sees about 145 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 13, about 110 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hilldale Colony?
The federal record around Hilldale Colony shows 12 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (8), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Hilldale Colony?
With about 145 frost-free days between hard freezes, Hilldale Colony 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 173 to 201 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 5 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Hilldale Colony's scale — its 3b band and its 145-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hilldale Colony'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 Hilldale Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hilldale Colony's own scale — its own ~145-day season between 28°F freezes, the 225 acres it covers and 12 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hilldale Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hilldale Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Sep 27 and the ~145-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 12 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hilldale Colony, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hilldale Colony's boundary and the 225 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~145-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hilldale Colony's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hilldale Colony's 225 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hill County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hill 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 Hill County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hilldale Colony's 225 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hilldale Colony you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 225 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Hilldale Colony-wide figureread your own land →
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