Lima, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor zucchini, cranberry, cilantro, and okra, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lima, 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 Lima 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 Lima — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lima — the short answer
Lima, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 106 days between hard freezes, across 358 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jun 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~106
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 358 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 Lima's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lima's 106-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lima
Each reading below is measured for Lima itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLima runs about 106 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
MeasuredLima 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 Lima is in
Lima sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Lima's own centroid rather than borrowed from Beaverhead County.
What Grows in Lima
Every plant below cleared Lima's own zone 4b and its 106-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lima?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jun 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 15 — 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 Lima
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lima. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LIMA GAS N SNACKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- LIMA SCHOOL DIST 12 INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- RALPHS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 14S08W05ACB 01Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 13S08W30BCD 01Nitrate · 3.1 mi
- UnknownMining · 7.1 mi
- 13S09W01BCCA01Nitrate · 7.2 mi
- Little Sheep Creek AreaMining · 7.2 mi
- West Shore MineMining · 7.3 mi
- 12S08W34AAAC01Nitrate · 8.0 mi
- 13S09W04DCDC01Nitrate · 8.1 mi
- Barbara & Judy ClaimsMining · 8.9 mi
Measured from Lima'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 Lima.
Total Sites
17
within ~10 miles of Lima
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
4 mining sites (prospects, none worked)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lima
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Lima
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 Lima average
Your land is one point inside Lima
Everything above resolves to Lima as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 358 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 Lima Average
Lima Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Lima
- ●One soil character for all of Lima
- ●Frost dates read at Lima's scale: Jun 1 to Sep 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lima's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lima
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lima, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lima averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lima — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lima average
How we know this about Lima
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 Lima’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 Lima
When does frost risk typically end in Lima?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lima typically lands around Jun 1, 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 Jun 22.
When is the first frost in Lima?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lima typically arrives around Sep 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 1, so the watching starts about Aug 16 — about 106 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lima?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lima sees about 106 frost-free days — roughly Jun 1 through Sep 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 22 to Sep 1, about 71 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lima?
The federal record around Lima is light — 17 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 gardeners stretch the season in Lima?
With about 106 frost-free days between hard freezes, Lima 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 134 to 162 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the Jun 1 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Lima's scale — its 4b band and its 106-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lima'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 Lima’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lima's own scale — its own ~106-day season between 28°F freezes, the 358 acres it covers and 17 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lima's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lima's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Jun 1 and Sep 15 and the ~106-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 17 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lima, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lima's boundary and the 358 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~106-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lima's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lima's 358 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Beaverhead County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Beaverhead 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 Beaverhead County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lima's 358 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lima you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 358 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 Lima-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaLima sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.