Reed Point, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Reed Point, 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 Reed Point 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 Reed Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Reed Point — the short answer
Reed Point, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 356 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~156
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 356 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 Reed Point's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Reed Point's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Reed Point
Each reading below is measured for Reed Point itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredReed Point runs about 156 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
MeasuredReed Point 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 Reed Point is in
Reed Point sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Reed Point's own centroid rather than borrowed from Stillwater County.
What Grows in Reed Point
Every plant below cleared Reed Point's own zone 4b and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Reed Point?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Reed Point
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Reed Point. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- REED POINT HIGH SCHOOL AND GYM - WELLNitrate · 350 ft
- TREES RANCH INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- IRENE BARNUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- BN REED POINT MICROWAVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- REEDPOINT HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- VALLEY FARMERS SUPPLY SURE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GLEN MOTHERSHEAD RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- 01S17E35ABAB01Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- 01S18E18CCBA01Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- 02S17E11ADBA01Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- 01S17E33DACB01Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- 01N18E33CCDC01Nitrate · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Reed Point'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 Reed Point.
Total Sites
36
within ~10 miles of Reed Point
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Reed Point
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Reed Point
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Reed Point, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 28 sites within ~10 miles of Reed Point. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Reed Point
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 Reed Point average
Your land is one point inside Reed Point
Everything above resolves to Reed Point as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 356 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 Reed Point Average
Reed Point Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Reed Point
- ●One soil character for all of Reed Point
- ●Frost dates read at Reed Point's scale: May 4 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Reed Point's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Reed Point
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Reed Point, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Reed Point averages can't show:
We read public map data around Reed Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Reed Point average
How we know this about Reed Point
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 Reed Point’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 Reed Point
When does frost risk typically end in Reed Point?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Reed Point typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Reed Point?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Reed Point typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 156 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Reed Point?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Reed Point sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 23, about 121 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Reed Point?
The federal record around Reed Point is a meaningful one — 36 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (28), the nearest Nitrate 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 I protect my plants from frost in Reed Point?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Reed Point's scale — its 4b band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Reed Point'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 Reed Point’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Reed Point's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 356 acres it covers and 36 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Reed Point's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Reed Point's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 7 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 36 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Reed Point, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Reed Point's boundary and the 356 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Reed Point's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Reed Point's 356 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Stillwater County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Stillwater 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 Stillwater County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Reed Point's 356 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Reed Point you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 356 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Reed Point-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaReed Point sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides