Springdale Colony, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Springdale 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 Springdale 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 Springdale Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Springdale Colony — the short answer
Springdale Colony, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 135 days between hard freezes, across 134 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~135
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 134 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 Springdale Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Springdale Colony's 135-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Springdale Colony
Each reading below is measured for Springdale Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSpringdale Colony runs about 135 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
MeasuredSpringdale 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 Springdale Colony is in
Springdale Colony sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Springdale Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Meagher County.
What Grows in Springdale Colony
Every plant below cleared Springdale Colony's own zone 4b and its 135-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Springdale Colony?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Springdale Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Springdale Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SPRINGDALE COLONYCAFO · 1200 ft
- SPRINGDALE COLONY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- 09N06E21ACAD01Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- MDOT DEEP CREEK SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- 09N06E17BBBA01Nitrate · 5.9 mi
- MDOT WHITE SULPHER SPRINGS US 12Underground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- BIRCH CREEK RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- 09N06E07BDAD01Nitrate · 6.6 mi
- MEAGHER COUNTY ROAD DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
- Copper QueenMining · 7.8 mi
- Copper GlanceMining · 7.8 mi
- Stewart & Battle CreekMining · 7.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Springdale 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 Springdale Colony.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Springdale Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Springdale Colony
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Springdale Colony, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Springdale Colony — Mining (5 sites) and Nitrate (10 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Springdale 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 Springdale Colony average
Your land is one point inside Springdale Colony
Everything above resolves to Springdale Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 134 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 Springdale Colony Average
Springdale Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Springdale Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Springdale Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Springdale Colony's scale: May 13 to Sep 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Springdale Colony's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Springdale Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Springdale Colony, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Springdale Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Springdale Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Springdale Colony average
How we know this about Springdale 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 Springdale 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 Springdale Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Springdale Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Springdale Colony typically lands around May 13, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Springdale Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Springdale Colony typically arrives around Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 11, so the watching starts about Aug 26 — about 135 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Springdale Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Springdale Colony sees about 135 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 11, about 100 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Springdale Colony?
The federal record around Springdale Colony is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (20), the nearest CAFO record about 0.2 miles 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 Springdale Colony?
With about 135 frost-free days between hard freezes, Springdale Colony 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 163 to 191 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Springdale Colony's scale — its 4b band and its 135-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Springdale 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 Springdale Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Springdale Colony's own scale — its own ~135-day season between 28°F freezes, the 134 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Springdale Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Springdale Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 13 and Sep 25 and the ~135-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Springdale Colony, the closest CAFO record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Springdale Colony's boundary and the 134 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~135-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Springdale Colony's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Springdale Colony's 134 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Meagher County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Meagher 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 Meagher County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Springdale Colony's 134 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Springdale 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 134 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest CAFO record about 0.2 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 Springdale Colony-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaSpringdale Colony sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides