New Rockport Colony, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in New Rockport Colony, 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 New Rockport Colony 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 New Rockport Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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New Rockport Colony — the short answer
New Rockport Colony, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 4b is New Rockport Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against New Rockport Colony's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in New Rockport Colony
Each reading below is measured for New Rockport Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNew Rockport Colony runs about 157 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
MeasuredNew Rockport Colony 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 New Rockport Colony is in
New Rockport Colony sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at New Rockport Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Teton County.
What Grows in New Rockport Colony
Every plant below cleared New Rockport Colony's own zone 4b and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in New Rockport Colony?
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 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near New Rockport Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of New Rockport Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NEW ROCKPORT COLONY INCCAFO · 0.9 mi
- CHOTEAU KOAUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- E P EKEGREN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB S 32Underground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB H 11Underground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- MDOT DUTTON SECTION YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- DEPNER FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- 24N04W08CBB 01Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- NEVIN CASKEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
- CHOTEAU AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- 26N04W36DCDB01Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- CHOTEAU KEY PUMP USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from New Rockport Colony'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 New Rockport Colony.
Total Sites
54
within ~10 miles of New Rockport Colony
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of New Rockport Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of New Rockport Colony
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around New Rockport Colony, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of New Rockport Colony. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 New Rockport Colony
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 New Rockport Colony average
Your land is one point inside New Rockport Colony
Everything above resolves to New Rockport Colony 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 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 New Rockport Colony Average
New Rockport Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across New Rockport Colony
- ●One soil character for all of New Rockport Colony
- ●Frost dates read at New Rockport Colony's scale: May 2 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not New Rockport Colony's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in New Rockport Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in New Rockport Colony, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that New Rockport Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around New Rockport Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the New Rockport Colony average
How we know this about New Rockport Colony
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 New Rockport Colony’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 New Rockport Colony
When does frost risk typically end in New Rockport Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in New Rockport Colony typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in New Rockport Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in New Rockport Colony typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in New Rockport Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, New Rockport Colony sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 22, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in New Rockport Colony?
The federal record around New Rockport Colony shows 54 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (38), the nearest CAFO record about 0.9 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 New Rockport Colony?
From about Sep 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at New Rockport Colony's scale — its 4b band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of New Rockport Colony'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 New Rockport Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at New Rockport Colony's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,247 acres it covers and 54 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- New Rockport Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- New Rockport Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 6 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 54 documented contamination sites on the federal record near New Rockport Colony, the closest CAFO record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- New Rockport Colony's boundary and the 2,247 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at New Rockport Colony's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so New Rockport Colony's 2,247 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Teton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Teton 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 Teton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among New Rockport Colony's 2,247 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of New Rockport Colony you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,247 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest CAFO record about 0.9 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 New Rockport Colony-wide figureread your own land →