Wilsall, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Wilsall, 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 Wilsall 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 Wilsall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wilsall — the short answer
Wilsall, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 133 days between hard freezes, across 716 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 15
- 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
- ~133
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 716 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 Wilsall's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wilsall's 133-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wilsall
Each reading below is measured for Wilsall itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWilsall runs about 133 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
MeasuredWilsall 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 Wilsall is in
Wilsall sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wilsall's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Park County is mostly Middle Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Wilsall
Every plant below cleared Wilsall's own zone 4b and its 133-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wilsall?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 15 (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. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Wilsall
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wilsall. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PARK FARMERS COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LAUREL MANTZUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PULIS RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- IBEX RANCH COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ROBERT J PHARESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MDOT WILSALL SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- SHIELDS VALLEY HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- BOB R TANNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- DALES FUEL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- KEY PUMPUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- HOFFMANS MACHINE WELDING & REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- ROBINSON RANCH INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
Measured from Wilsall'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 Wilsall.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wilsall
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Wilsall
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 Wilsall average
Your land is one point inside Wilsall
Everything above resolves to Wilsall as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 716 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 Wilsall Average
Wilsall Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Wilsall
- ●One soil character for all of Wilsall
- ●Frost dates read at Wilsall's scale: May 15 to Sep 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wilsall's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wilsall
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wilsall, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wilsall averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wilsall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wilsall average
How we know this about Wilsall
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 Wilsall’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 Wilsall
When does frost risk typically end in Wilsall?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wilsall typically lands around May 15, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Wilsall?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wilsall 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 133 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wilsall?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wilsall sees about 133 frost-free days — roughly May 15 through Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 5 to Sep 11, about 98 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wilsall?
The federal record around Wilsall is light — 12 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (12), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Wilsall?
With about 133 frost-free days between hard freezes, Wilsall 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 161 to 189 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 15 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Wilsall's scale — its 4b band and its 133-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wilsall'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 Wilsall’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wilsall's own scale — its own ~133-day season between 28°F freezes, the 716 acres it covers and 12 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wilsall's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wilsall's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 15 and Sep 25 and the ~133-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 12 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wilsall, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wilsall's boundary and the 716 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~133-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wilsall sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wilsall's 716 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Park County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Park 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 Park County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wilsall's 716 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wilsall you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 716 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 Wilsall-wide figureread your own land →
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