Wye, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Wye, 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 Wye 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 Wye — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wye — the short answer
Wye, Montana: USDA zone 5b, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~156
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 5b is Wye's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wye's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wye
Each reading below is measured for Wye itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWye runs about 156 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWye sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Wye is in
Wye sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Wye's own centroid rather than borrowed from Missoula County.
What Grows in Wye
Every plant below cleared Wye's own zone 5b and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wye?
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 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Wye
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wye. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MURALTS TRUCK PLAZAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- TOWN PUMP MISSOULA #7Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 14N20W28AB 01Nitrate · 1300 ft
- JONES EQUIPMENT USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- NORTHWEST PETERBILT CO MISSOULABrownfields · 1500 ft
- MISSOULA TRAVEL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WESTERN TRANSPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- DECKER TRUCK LINE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC - WMT1Brownfields · 1800 ft
- FIVE VALLEYS LIVESTOCK AUCTIONCAFO · 1900 ft
- HAGAN WELDING & REPAIR SHOPBrownfields · 2300 ft
- WESTFIELD MISSOULAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wye'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 Wye.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wye
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Wye
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 Wye average
Your land is one point inside Wye
Everything above resolves to Wye as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Wye Average
Wye Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Wye
- ●One soil character for all of Wye
- ●Frost dates read at Wye's scale: May 2 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wye's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wye
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wye, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wye averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wye — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wye average
How we know this about Wye
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 Wye’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 Wye
When does frost risk typically end in Wye?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wye typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Wye?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wye typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 156 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wye?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wye sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 21, about 121 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wye?
The federal record around Wye is a meaningful one — 558 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (323), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 I protect my plants from frost in Wye?
From about Sep 5 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wye's scale — its 5b band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wye'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 Wye’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wye's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,870 acres it covers and 558 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wye's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wye's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 5 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 558 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wye, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wye's boundary and the 1,870 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wye's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wye's 1,870 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Missoula County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Missoula 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 Missoula County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wye's 1,870 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wye you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,870 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Wye-wide figureread your own land →
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