Whitetail, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Whitetail, 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 Whitetail 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 Whitetail — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Whitetail — the short answer
Whitetail, Montana: USDA zone 3b, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 88 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 88 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 3b is Whitetail's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whitetail's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Whitetail
Each reading below is measured for Whitetail itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWhitetail runs about 147 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
MeasuredWhitetail sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 Whitetail is in
Whitetail sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Whitetail's own centroid rather than borrowed from Daniels County.
What Grows in Whitetail
Every plant below cleared Whitetail's own zone 3b and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Whitetail?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 30 — 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 Whitetail
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Whitetail. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WHITETAIL GRAIN COUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
- CANTRELL FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
- FRANK EDWARDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
- RAYMOND & ECHO GARBERGUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
- FLAXVILLE LOCAL NON PROFIT DEVELOPMENT CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- BN FLAXVILLE DEPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- BUILDERS CENTREUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- WILLIAM TRYANUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- DONALD W TRYANUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- PRO CO-OP 3Underground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- 37N48E23CDBB01Nitrate · 9.5 mi
- 37N48E23BBDC01Nitrate · 9.9 mi
Measured from Whitetail'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 Whitetail.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Whitetail
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Whitetail
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 Whitetail average
Your land is one point inside Whitetail
Everything above resolves to Whitetail as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 88 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 Whitetail Average
Whitetail Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Whitetail
- ●One soil character for all of Whitetail
- ●Frost dates read at Whitetail's scale: May 6 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whitetail's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Whitetail
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whitetail, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whitetail averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whitetail — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whitetail average
How we know this about Whitetail
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 Whitetail’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 Whitetail
When does frost risk typically end in Whitetail?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whitetail typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Whitetail?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Whitetail typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Whitetail?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whitetail sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 16, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whitetail?
The federal record around Whitetail is light — 14 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 5.8 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 Whitetail?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Whitetail 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 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 6 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Whitetail's scale — its 3b band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whitetail'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 Whitetail’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Whitetail's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 88 acres it covers and 14 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whitetail's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Whitetail's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Sep 30 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 14 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Whitetail, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 5.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Whitetail's boundary and the 88 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Whitetail's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Whitetail's 88 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Daniels County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Daniels 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 Daniels County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Whitetail's 88 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Whitetail you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 88 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 5.8 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 Whitetail-wide figureread your own land →
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