Ravalli, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ravalli, 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 Ravalli 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 Ravalli — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ravalli — the short answer
Ravalli, Montana: USDA zone 6a, about 172 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~172
- 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 6a is Ravalli's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ravalli's 172-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ravalli
Each reading below is measured for Ravalli itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRavalli runs about 172 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
MeasuredRavalli sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Ravalli is in
Ravalli sits in the Northern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Ravalli's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Ravalli
Every plant below cleared Ravalli's own zone 6a and its 172-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ravalli?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 Ravalli
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ravalli. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BN RAVALLI MICROWAVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MDOT RAVALLI MAINTENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- RAVALLI STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- FORMER DUMONTIER OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 18N20W32BCC 01Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- BLUE BELL ANTIQUESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- GOODS MUFFLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- YOUR CHOICE VIDEOUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- 18N20W23DADA01Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- FLATHEAD HEALTH CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- 18N20W14DBD 02Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 18N20W07BDA 01Nitrate · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ravalli'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 Ravalli.
Total Sites
71
within ~10 miles of Ravalli
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 mining site (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ravalli
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ravalli
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ravalli, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Ravalli. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Ravalli
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 Ravalli average
Your land is one point inside Ravalli
Everything above resolves to Ravalli 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 Ravalli Average
Ravalli Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Ravalli
- ●One soil character for all of Ravalli
- ●Frost dates read at Ravalli's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ravalli's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ravalli
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ravalli, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ravalli averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ravalli — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ravalli average
How we know this about Ravalli
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 Ravalli’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 Ravalli
When does frost risk typically end in Ravalli?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ravalli typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Ravalli?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ravalli typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 172 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ravalli?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ravalli sees about 172 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Sep 28, about 137 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ravalli?
The federal record around Ravalli shows 71 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Ravalli?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ravalli's scale — its 6a band and its 172-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ravalli'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 Ravalli’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ravalli's own scale — its own ~172-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,682 acres it covers and 71 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ravalli's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ravalli's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 12 and the ~172-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 71 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ravalli, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ravalli's boundary and the 1,682 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~172-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ravalli's own centroid, the Northern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ravalli's 1,682 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake 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 Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ravalli's 1,682 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ravalli you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,682 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Ravalli-wide figureread your own land →
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