Nevada spans USDA hardiness zones 4a-10a, with a growing season of about 163 frost-free days — a true four-season rhythm: spring greens, a full summer main crop, and a fall window that rewards planning.
The growing year is built on 4-12 inches of annual rainfall, a median of roughly 1,725 growing-degree days (base 50°F), and about 2,500 winter chill hours for tree fruit, and every crop choice answers to them. Expect desert sand, caliche, alkaline clay, and volcanic underfoot; what unites them is that their drainage, good or poor, sets the ceiling on most crops. The state line hides real variety: Mojave Desert, Humboldt River Corridor, and Truckee Meadows / Reno each keep their own zone band and frost dates. A short list that earns its place here — sagebrush, grape, tomato, and pinon pine — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Grounded inUSDA PHZM•NOAA Climate Normals•USDA NRCS SSURGO•GDD (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•Chill hours (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•USDA hardiness sub-region map•EPA FRS•USDA PLANTS•Growable Ground suitability scoring
Nevada spans zones 4a-10a, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 Nevada — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Distinct growing regions within Nevada — each has its own zones, soils, and signature crops.
Nevada: USDA zones 4a-10a, 110–321 frost-free days depending on the county, 17 counties.
The middle half of this state’s counties. Tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks past the last hard freeze. The shortest-season figure is Nevada's own county record — Elko County's measured 28°F normal, not a modeled floor.
Nevada does not have one growing season. Across the 112 of its 132 towns that carry their own 30-year record, the shortest measured season is Mountain City's at 103 days and the longest is Bunkerville's at 302 — a 199-day spread inside one state.
Neither end is a lone reading — another 2 towns measure within 10 days of Mountain City and one sits within 10 days of Bunkerville. These are real pockets, so the number to plant against is your own town's, not the state average.
NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020), 30-year daily minimum record
Zone 4a-10a is Nevada's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nevada's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
One answer for Nevada averages 17 counties whose growing seasons are 211 days apart — from 110 frost-free days in Elko County to 321 in Clark County. That is the same state, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your county sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 17 counties runs 145–174 days, with a median of 163 days — a 211-day span end to end.
Measured across 17 counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze. A county with no record of its own is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the state. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
The middle half of Nevada runs 145–174 frost-free days, and 8 of its 17 counties sit outside that — 4 on the short side, 4 on the long. A statewide planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 145 frost-free days
4 counties
3 of 4 shown
The end of the state that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
145–174 frost-free days
9 counties
0 of 9 shown
The middle half of the state, and the part a single statewide date describes well.
Over 174 frost-free days
4 counties
3 of 4 shown
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each county is placed by its own 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a yard within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
The soil types that dominate Nevada — how each drains decides more about crop success than almost anything else. Tap any soil to learn what it is and how to work with it. Each photo is a representative profile of that soil type; the named series is where it was documented, which is often another state.
Drainage
Very fast at the surface, though hard mineral layers can lurk beneath and pond water where you least expect.
What thrives
Desert natives are the honest first choice — mesquite, palo verde, agave, desert wildflowers. With shade cloth, drip irrigation, and compost, raised desert beds grow exceptional peppers, melons, and winter greens.
Drainage
The layer itself is nearly waterproof: water perches on top of it, and roots stop where it starts unless it is broken.
What thrives
Desert natives handle caliche country naturally — mesquite, desert willow, agave, and wildflowers. Vegetables and fruit trees succeed where planting holes punch through the layer or beds rise above it.
Clay with a high pH, common where limestone parent material or low rainfall keeps calcium carbonate in the profile. The chemistry changes which nutrients plants can reach — iron especially becomes hard to take up.
Drainage
Slow, like any clay — water is deliberate going in and deliberate leaving.
What thrives
Plants that evolved on limey ground shrug at the pH: asparagus, brassicas, beets, spinach, figs, lavender, and many stone fruits on tolerant rootstocks. Yellowing leaves with green veins on other plants is the iron signal to read.
Drainage
Excellent and unusual: ash soils drain freely yet hold remarkable amounts of plant-available water in their porous structure — the best of both habits.
What thrives
Volcanic regions grow celebrated crops the world over: orchards, berries, vegetables, coffee, and wine grapes all prosper on ash-derived soils.
Soil data: USDA NRCS SSURGO · Soil types explained
Plants well-suited to Nevada's climate, soils, and growing season — each links to its full growing profile.
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Across Nevada, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near May 1, with the middle half of counties between Apr 28 and May 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Oct 9 and Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
The plants Nevada put its name on — cultural emblems, not growing recommendations.
Sagebrush
Artemisia tridentata
Designated 1967.
Single-leaf pinyon
Pinus monophylla
Designated 1959.
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in Nevada — a real per-state range, not just a zone match. Ordered by how closely each plant’s published hardiness range matches Nevada’s zones 4a-10a, so this is a shortlist by climate fit, not a ranking of which plants matter most here. Presence is statewide, so a plant may still be uncommon in your specific county; your state’s Cooperative Extension or a native-plant society is the local authority.
US-native plants whose hardiness range overlaps Nevada’s USDA zones 4a-10a but which USDA PLANTS doesn’t map to a single state range here. Zone overlap is a starting filter, not a range map.
What an experienced grower plans around here — each one has a move.
Extremely low rainfall (driest US state)
Every drop gets a job: drip irrigation, deep mulch, and basin planting make the driest state genuinely growable.
Alkaline soils (pH 8-9) limit many species
A soil test confirms your pH; from there, adapted species in the ground and acid-lovers in containers of amended mix.
Extreme summer heat in southern valleys
Southern valleys garden in the shoulder seasons — plant to fall-through-spring windows and shade what stays out in July.
For cultivar selection, pest pressure, and planting-time guidance specific to Nevada, the University of Nevada, Reno Extension is the authoritative local source.
Safe to Grow Here?What the federal record shows across Nevada — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Nevada — 16,813 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 127 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Nevada carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Severity Distribution
across Nevada
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nevada, Mining runs higher than the national average — 6,064 sites across Nevada. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Everything above resolves to Nevada as a whole — a state whose own counties record seasons 211 days apart, and hardiness across zones 4a-10a. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 state 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 statewide average.
State averages sketch the shape. Your soil, sun exposure, drainage, and microclimate decide what actually takes. Pull a site-specific report for your exact parcel.
Enter your address. We read your soil, sun, drainage, and frost dates, then score 1,086 plants against the real conditions on your land.
Three things about your lot that Nevada averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nevada — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nevada average
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read per county and aggregated to the state band; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each county’s own record; rainfall from NOAA Climate Normals; soils from USDA NRCS SSURGO; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above. Where a county carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Nevada spans USDA hardiness zones 4a-10a — which is to say winter's coldest night runs from about −30°F to 35°F depending where in Nevada you are, averaged over 1991–2020 (USDA PHZM 2023).
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Across Nevada, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near May 1, with the middle half of counties between Apr 28 and May 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Oct 9 and Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Across Nevada, the middle half of counties see their last hard freeze (28°F) between about Apr 28 and May 20, with a county median near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). 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 22.
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, growing seasons across Nevada's counties mostly run about 145 to 174 days, with a county median near 163 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender crops get a somewhat shorter practical window, since lighter frosts reach a few weeks past the hard-freeze dates on both ends.
Nevada's zones 4a-10a support a wide range — strong performers include Sagebrush, Grape, Tomato, Pinon Pine, and Pomegranate. What actually takes on any one site comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage, and we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
Officially, Nevada spans USDA zones 4a-10a (USDA PHZM 2023) — but a zone is a 30-year average of winter's coldest night across an area, and it can't see any one yard. A south-facing slope, a tree line, or a low frost pocket can shift a single site by half a zone either way, which is why neighboring gardeners often quote different numbers. We read the conditions at your exact address — soil, sun, slope, and frost — and score 1,086 plants against what's actually there.
The federal record across Nevada runs heavier than most — 16,813 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (6,064) — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Start with three facts. Nevada spans USDA zones 4a-10a, which sets what survives winter; last hard freezes range from about Apr 28 to May 20 across its counties (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and 16,813 documented sites sit on the federal record here, so a soil test before food beds is the smart first step. From there, matching plants to your actual soil and sun is the fun part.
Everything above is measured at Nevada's scale — its 4a-10a band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nevada's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
6 of the readings below were taken at Nevada's own scale — the full zone 4a-10a span inside its borders, the 4 soil types that dominate its ground and 16,813 documented sites on its federal record; anything it cannot resolve at this scale is named below.
Measured here
What this page can’t tell you
Explore growing conditions by city or town in Nevada.
Nevada shares its dominant growing region with these states — a useful comparison if you're weighing where a crop will behave the same way.
