Kila, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kila, 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 Kila 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 Kila — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kila — the short answer
Kila, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 145 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~145
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 5a is Kila's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kila's 145-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kila
Each reading below is measured for Kila itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKila 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
MeasuredKila sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Kila is in
Kila sits in the Northern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Kila'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 Kila
Every plant below cleared Kila's own zone 5a and its 145-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kila?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Kila
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kila. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HIGHWAY TRADING FORMERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ASHLEY CREEK RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- KELLY RAES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- EVERGREEN DISPOSAL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- VALLEY DRIVE ABANDONED SLURRYSuperfund · 6.1 mi
- ROGER KESSINGERUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
- WOODRINGS LANDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- MDOT MARIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- MEADOW GOLD DAIRIES INC KALISPELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- 28N21W19BC 02Nitrate · 7.9 mi
- INDUSTRIAL WOOD PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.9 mi
- CANI INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kila'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 Kila.
Total Sites
171
within ~10 miles of Kila
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kila
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kila
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kila, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 112 sites within ~10 miles of Kila. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Kila
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 Kila average
Your land is one point inside Kila
Everything above resolves to Kila as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Kila Average
Kila Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Kila
- ●One soil character for all of Kila
- ●Frost dates read at Kila's scale: May 8 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kila's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kila
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kila, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kila averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kila — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kila average
How we know this about Kila
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 Kila’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 Kila
When does frost risk typically end in Kila?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kila typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Kila?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kila typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 145 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kila?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kila sees about 145 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 16, about 110 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kila?
The federal record around Kila is a meaningful one — 171 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (112), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Kila?
With about 145 frost-free days between hard freezes, Kila 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 8 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Kila's scale — its 5a band and its 145-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kila'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 Kila’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Kila's own scale — its own ~145-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,545 acres it covers and 171 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kila's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kila's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Sep 30 and the ~145-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 171 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kila, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kila's boundary and the 2,545 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~145-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Kila 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 Kila's 2,545 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 Kila's 2,545 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kila you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,545 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Kila-wide figureread your own land →
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