Wineglass, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Wineglass, 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 Wineglass 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 Wineglass — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wineglass — the short answer
Wineglass, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 146 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~146
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Wineglass's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wineglass's 146-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wineglass
Each reading below is measured for Wineglass itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWineglass runs about 146 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
MeasuredWineglass 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 Wineglass is in
Wineglass sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wineglass'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 Wineglass
Every plant below cleared Wineglass's own zone 5a and its 146-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wineglass?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — 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 Wineglass
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wineglass. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FEDERAL EXPRESS - ZLIVBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- PRINTING FOR LESS.COMBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- PATSY BRANDONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- YELLOWSTONE TRUCK STOP LIVINGSTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- WARREN BLANCHARD LOGGINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- TOWN PUMP INC LIVINGSTON 3Underground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- VOLK ELECTRICUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- ALBERTSONS 0042Brownfields · 2.6 mi
- CASEYS #4Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- ZIP TRIP 47Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- INTERSTATE SINCLAIR STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- INTERSTATE CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wineglass'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 Wineglass.
Total Sites
117
within ~10 miles of Wineglass
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wineglass
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wineglass
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wineglass, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 80 sites within ~10 miles of Wineglass. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Wineglass
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 Wineglass average
Your land is one point inside Wineglass
Everything above resolves to Wineglass as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Wineglass Average
Wineglass Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Wineglass
- ●One soil character for all of Wineglass
- ●Frost dates read at Wineglass's scale: May 9 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wineglass's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wineglass
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wineglass, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wineglass averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wineglass — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wineglass average
How we know this about Wineglass
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 Wineglass’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 Wineglass
When does frost risk typically end in Wineglass?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wineglass typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Wineglass?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wineglass typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 146 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wineglass?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wineglass sees about 146 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 18, about 111 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wineglass?
The federal record around Wineglass is a meaningful one — 117 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (80), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.5 miles 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 gardeners stretch the season in Wineglass?
With about 146 frost-free days between hard freezes, Wineglass 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 174 to 202 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 9 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Wineglass's scale — its 5a band and its 146-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wineglass'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 Wineglass’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wineglass's own scale — its own ~146-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,012 acres it covers and 117 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wineglass's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wineglass's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 2 and the ~146-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 117 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wineglass, the closest Brownfields record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wineglass's boundary and the 4,012 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~146-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wineglass 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 Wineglass's 4,012 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 Wineglass's 4,012 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wineglass you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,012 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.5 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 Wineglass-wide figureread your own land →
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