Livingston, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Livingston, 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 Livingston 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 Livingston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Livingston — the short answer
Livingston, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 144 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~144
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Livingston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Livingston's 144-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Livingston
Each reading below is measured for Livingston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLivingston runs about 144 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
MeasuredLivingston 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 Livingston is in
Livingston sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Livingston's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Park County is mostly Middle Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Livingston
Every plant below cleared Livingston's own zone 5a and its 144-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Livingston?
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 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 1 — 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 Livingston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Livingston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PARK STREET EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- PARCO NEON SIGN COMPANYBrownfields · 250 ft
- OWNERSHIP UNCLAIMED LIVINGSTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- TOWN PUMP INC LIVINGSTON 2Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- PARK COUNTY ROAD DEPT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CITY COUNTY COMPLEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- JOHN E LONGUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- BURLINGTON NORTHERN LIVINGSTON SHOP COMPLEXSuperfund · 950 ft
- BOBS SINCLAIR INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- EAST END CONOCO LIVINGSTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- ELK RIVER PETROLEUM INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- OCONNOR AUTO BODY LLCBrownfields · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Livingston'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 Livingston.
Total Sites
112
within ~10 miles of Livingston
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Livingston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Livingston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Livingston, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 77 sites within ~10 miles of Livingston. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Livingston
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 Livingston average
Your land is one point inside Livingston
Everything above resolves to Livingston as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Livingston Average
Livingston Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Livingston
- ●One soil character for all of Livingston
- ●Frost dates read at Livingston's scale: May 10 to Oct 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Livingston's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Livingston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Livingston, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Livingston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Livingston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Livingston average
How we know this about Livingston
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 Livingston’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 Livingston
When does frost risk typically end in Livingston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Livingston typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Livingston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Livingston typically arrives around Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 17, so the watching starts about Sep 1 — about 144 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Livingston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Livingston sees about 144 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 17, about 109 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Livingston?
The federal record around Livingston is a meaningful one — 112 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (77), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Livingston?
With about 144 frost-free days between hard freezes, Livingston 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 172 to 200 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Livingston's scale — its 5a band and its 144-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Livingston'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 Livingston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Livingston's own scale — its own ~144-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,839 acres it covers and 112 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Livingston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Livingston's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 1 and the ~144-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 112 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Livingston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Livingston's boundary and the 3,839 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~144-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Livingston sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Livingston's 3,839 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Park County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Park 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 Park County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Livingston's 3,839 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Livingston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,839 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Livingston-wide figureread your own land →
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