Philipsburg, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with okra, cranberry, lavender, and pumpkin — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Philipsburg, 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 Philipsburg 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 Philipsburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Philipsburg — the short answer
Philipsburg, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 118 days between hard freezes, across 544 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~118
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 544 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 Philipsburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Philipsburg's 118-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Philipsburg
Each reading below is measured for Philipsburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPhilipsburg runs about 118 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
MeasuredPhilipsburg 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 Philipsburg is in
Philipsburg sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Philipsburg's own centroid rather than borrowed from Granite County.
What Grows in Philipsburg
Every plant below cleared Philipsburg's own zone 5a and its 118-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Philipsburg?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 17 — 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 Philipsburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Philipsburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WINNINGHOFF MOTORS INC 201 W BROADWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- BLM-LONDONERRY MINE/MAXVILLE TAILINGSSuperfund · 400 ft
- TOWN OF PHILIPSBURGUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- GRANITE COUNTY ROAD DEPT PHILIPSBURGUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- GRANITE COUNTY MEMORIAL HOSPITALUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- CLYDE B CHRISTMAN LELAND PERRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- ED KAHOEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SCHOOL DIST 1Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FESSLER BROS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- BOWEN SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- GRANITE SPORTLAND INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- WINNINGHOFF MOTORS INC 906 W BROADWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Philipsburg'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 Philipsburg.
Total Sites
194
within ~10 miles of Philipsburg
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Philipsburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Philipsburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Philipsburg, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Philipsburg — Mining (169 sites) and Superfund (4 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Philipsburg
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 Philipsburg average
Your land is one point inside Philipsburg
Everything above resolves to Philipsburg as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 544 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 Philipsburg Average
Philipsburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Philipsburg
- ●One soil character for all of Philipsburg
- ●Frost dates read at Philipsburg's scale: May 22 to Sep 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Philipsburg's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Philipsburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Philipsburg, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Philipsburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Philipsburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Philipsburg average
How we know this about Philipsburg
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 Philipsburg’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 Philipsburg
When does frost risk typically end in Philipsburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Philipsburg typically lands around May 22, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Philipsburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Philipsburg typically arrives around Sep 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 3, so the watching starts about Aug 18 — about 118 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Philipsburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Philipsburg sees about 118 frost-free days — roughly May 22 through Sep 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 12 to Sep 3, about 83 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Philipsburg?
The federal record around Philipsburg runs heavier than most — 194 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (169), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Philipsburg?
With about 118 frost-free days between hard freezes, Philipsburg 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 146 to 174 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 22 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Philipsburg's scale — its 5a band and its 118-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Philipsburg'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 Philipsburg’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Philipsburg's own scale — its own ~118-day season between 28°F freezes, the 544 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Philipsburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Philipsburg's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 22 and Sep 17 and the ~118-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Philipsburg, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Philipsburg's boundary and the 544 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~118-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Philipsburg's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Philipsburg's 544 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Granite County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Granite 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 Granite County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Philipsburg's 544 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Philipsburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 544 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 Philipsburg-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaPhilipsburg sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides