Redstone, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Redstone, 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 Redstone 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 Redstone — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Redstone — the short answer
Redstone, Montana: USDA zone 3a, about 139 days between hard freezes, across 215 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~139
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 215 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 3a is Redstone's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Redstone's 139-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Redstone
Each reading below is measured for Redstone itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRedstone runs about 139 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
MeasuredRedstone sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a.
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 Redstone is in
Redstone sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Redstone's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sheridan County.
What Grows in Redstone
Every plant below cleared Redstone's own zone 3a and its 139-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Redstone?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 Sep 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Redstone
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Redstone. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BENCHVIEW FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- FARM SITE REDSTONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- NASH BROS INC REDSTONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- 35N52E07CD 01Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- 35N52E12B 01Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- 35N52E12ABAC01Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- 36N52E11CD 01Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 34N52E03BA 01Nitrate · Not nearby
- 36N53E32DD 01Nitrate · 6.3 mi
- FARMERS OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- CENTRAL TANK BATTERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- STONER FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
5 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Redstone'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 Redstone.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Redstone
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Redstone, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 16 sites within ~10 miles of Redstone. 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 Redstone
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 Redstone average
Your land is one point inside Redstone
Everything above resolves to Redstone as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 215 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 Redstone Average
Redstone Average
- ●USDA Zones 3a, averaged across Redstone
- ●One soil character for all of Redstone
- ●Frost dates read at Redstone's scale: May 10 to Sep 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Redstone's 3a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Redstone
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Redstone, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Redstone averages can't show:
We read public map data around Redstone — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Redstone average
How we know this about Redstone
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 Redstone’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 Redstone
When does frost risk typically end in Redstone?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Redstone 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 Redstone?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Redstone typically arrives around Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 12, so the watching starts about Aug 27 — about 139 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Redstone?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Redstone sees about 139 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 12, about 104 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Redstone?
The federal record around Redstone is light — 25 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (16), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Redstone?
With about 139 frost-free days between hard freezes, Redstone 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 167 to 195 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 Redstone's scale — its 3a band and its 139-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Redstone'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 Redstone’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Redstone's own scale — its own ~139-day season between 28°F freezes, the 215 acres it covers and 25 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Redstone's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Redstone's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Sep 26 and the ~139-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 25 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Redstone, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Redstone's boundary and the 215 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3a and a ~139-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Redstone's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Redstone's 215 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sheridan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sheridan 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 Sheridan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Redstone's 215 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Redstone you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 215 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 Redstone-wide figureread your own land →
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