Laurel, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Laurel, 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 Laurel 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 Laurel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Laurel — the short answer
Laurel, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 164 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- 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
- ~164
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Laurel's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Laurel's 164-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Laurel
Each reading below is measured for Laurel itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLaurel runs about 164 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
MeasuredLaurel 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 Laurel is in
Laurel sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Laurel's own centroid rather than borrowed from Yellowstone County.
What Grows in Laurel
Every plant below cleared Laurel's own zone 5a and its 164-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Laurel?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (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 Laurel
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Laurel. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- D BAR O AVIATION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- US POST OFFICE LAURELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- RICCIS EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MDOT LAUREL SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- LAUREL HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 2000 ft
- CITY OF LAURELUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- DIAMOND RECOVERY SYSTEMS INCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- BIG SKY WOOD CRAFTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- LAUREL SERVICE CENTER INC USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- DEANS SINCLAIR SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- CONOMART SUPERSTORE 3Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- LAUREL DIAL EXCHANGE BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Laurel'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 Laurel.
Total Sites
211
within ~10 miles of Laurel
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Laurel
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Laurel
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Laurel, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Laurel — CAFO (4 sites) and Nitrate (94 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Laurel
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 Laurel average
Your land is one point inside Laurel
Everything above resolves to Laurel as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 city 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 Laurel Average
Laurel Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Laurel
- ●One soil character for all of Laurel
- ●Frost dates read at Laurel's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Laurel's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Laurel
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Laurel, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Laurel averages can't show:
We read public map data around Laurel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Laurel average
How we know this about Laurel
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Laurel’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Laurel
When does frost risk typically end in Laurel?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Laurel typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Laurel?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Laurel 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 164 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Laurel?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Laurel sees about 164 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 23, about 129 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Laurel?
The federal record around Laurel is a meaningful one — 211 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (94), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Laurel?
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 Laurel's scale — its 5a band and its 164-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Laurel'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 Laurel’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Laurel's own scale — its own ~164-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,667 acres it covers and 211 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Laurel's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Laurel's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 7 and the ~164-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 211 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Laurel, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Laurel's boundary and the 1,667 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~164-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Laurel's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Laurel's 1,667 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Yellowstone County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Yellowstone 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 Yellowstone County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Laurel's 1,667 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Laurel you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,667 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 Laurel-wide figureread your own land →
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