Hysham, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hysham, 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 Hysham 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 Hysham — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hysham — the short answer
Hysham, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 140 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 140 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 Hysham's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hysham's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hysham
Each reading below is measured for Hysham itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHysham runs about 169 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
MeasuredHysham 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 Hysham is in
Hysham sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hysham's own centroid rather than borrowed from Treasure County.
What Grows in Hysham
Every plant below cleared Hysham's own zone 4b and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hysham?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — 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 Hysham
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hysham. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MDOT HYSHAM SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- 06N36E09B 01Nitrate · 1100 ft
- KOLB BROSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- HAROLD HERTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- BN HYSHAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MID YELLOWSTONE ELECTRIC COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SARPY CREEKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- OLE REDLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- UNKNOWN HYSHAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FRIENDLY CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- TREASURE COUNTY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- FARMERS UNION OIL CO HYSHAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hysham'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 Hysham.
Total Sites
53
within ~10 miles of Hysham
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hysham
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hysham
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hysham, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hysham — CAFO (4 sites) and Nitrate (32 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Hysham
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 Hysham average
Your land is one point inside Hysham
Everything above resolves to Hysham as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 140 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 Hysham Average
Hysham Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Hysham
- ●One soil character for all of Hysham
- ●Frost dates read at Hysham's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hysham's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hysham
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hysham, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hysham averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hysham — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hysham average
How we know this about Hysham
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 Hysham’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 Hysham
When does frost risk typically end in Hysham?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hysham typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Hysham?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hysham typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hysham?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hysham sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Sep 26, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hysham?
The federal record around Hysham shows 53 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (32), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 I protect my plants from frost in Hysham?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hysham's scale — its 4b band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hysham'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 Hysham’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hysham's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 140 acres it covers and 53 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hysham's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hysham's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 10 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 53 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hysham, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hysham's boundary and the 140 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hysham's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hysham's 140 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Treasure County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Treasure 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 Treasure County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hysham's 140 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hysham you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 140 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 Hysham-wide figureread your own land →
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