Whitefish, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Whitefish, 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 Whitefish 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 Whitefish — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Whitefish — the short answer
Whitefish, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 137 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- 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
- ~137
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Whitefish's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whitefish's 137-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Whitefish
Each reading below is measured for Whitefish itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWhitefish runs about 137 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
MeasuredWhitefish 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 Whitefish is in
Whitefish sits in the Northern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Whitefish's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Flathead County is mostly Canadian Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Whitefish
Every plant below cleared Whitefish's own zone 5a and its 137-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Whitefish?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (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. 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 Whitefish
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Whitefish. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WHITEFISH LAKE LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ALPINE VILLAGE MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BAY POINT CABINSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CITY OF WHITEFISH RAILROAD STUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- BNSF RAILWAY COBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- DON K CHEVROLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- BIG MOUNTAIN REPEATER SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- BN BIG MOUNTAIN MICROWAVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- STAR MEADOW WORK CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- WHITEFISH LAKE GOLF CLUB INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- WESTSIDE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- SINCLAIR STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Whitefish'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 Whitefish.
Total Sites
117
within ~10 miles of Whitefish
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Whitefish
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Whitefish
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Whitefish, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Whitefish. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Whitefish
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 Whitefish average
Your land is one point inside Whitefish
Everything above resolves to Whitefish as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 city 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 Whitefish Average
Whitefish Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Whitefish
- ●One soil character for all of Whitefish
- ●Frost dates read at Whitefish's scale: May 12 to Sep 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whitefish's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Whitefish
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whitefish, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whitefish averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whitefish — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whitefish average
How we know this about Whitefish
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Whitefish’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Whitefish
When does frost risk typically end in Whitefish?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whitefish typically lands around May 12, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Whitefish?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Whitefish 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 137 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Whitefish?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whitefish sees about 137 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 12, about 102 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whitefish?
The federal record around Whitefish shows 117 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 gardeners stretch the season in Whitefish?
With about 137 frost-free days between hard freezes, Whitefish 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 165 to 193 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Whitefish's scale — its 5a band and its 137-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whitefish'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 Whitefish’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Whitefish's own scale — its own ~137-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,691 acres it covers and 117 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whitefish's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Whitefish's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Sep 26 and the ~137-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 117 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Whitefish, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Whitefish's boundary and the 4,691 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~137-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Whitefish sits in the Northern Rockies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Whitefish's 4,691 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Flathead County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Flathead 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 Flathead County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Whitefish's 4,691 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Whitefish you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,691 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Whitefish-wide figureread your own land →
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