Boulder City, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Boulder City, 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 Boulder City 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 Boulder City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Boulder City — the short answer
Boulder City, Nevada: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 136K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 25
- Clark County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Clark County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- Clark County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 136K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Clark County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Boulder City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Boulder City's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Boulder City
Each reading below is measured for Boulder City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBoulder City runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from Clark County, the closest normal to Boulder City) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBoulder City sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 Boulder City is in
Boulder City sits in the Mojave Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Boulder City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clark County.
What Grows in Boulder City
Every plant below cleared Boulder City's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Boulder City?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Boulder City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Boulder City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NEVADA SOLAR ONEBrownfields · 4.6 mi
- ARMOROCK, LLCToxics Release Inventory · 5.6 mi
- ECI NEVADA EL DORADO PLANTBrownfields · 5.6 mi
- COPPER MOUNTAIN SOLAR IBrownfields · 5.8 mi
- Blue Quartz MineMining · 5.9 mi
- EL DORADO ENERGY FACILITYBrownfields · 6.0 mi
- Gold ProspectMining · 6.0 mi
- SCE ELDORADO SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 6.3 mi
- ELDORADO CARTRIDGE CORPToxics Release Inventory · 7.3 mi
- ARMOROCK LLCBrownfields · 7.4 mi
- El Dorado Sub StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- ATLAS AIRCRAFT CENTERBrownfields · 7.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Boulder City'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 Boulder City.
Total Sites
70
within ~10 miles of Boulder City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Boulder City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Boulder City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Boulder City, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Boulder City — Superfund (3 sites) and Mining (12 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Boulder City
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 Boulder City average
Your land is one point inside Boulder City
Everything above resolves to Boulder City as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 136K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Clark County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. 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 city 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 Boulder City Average
Boulder City Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Boulder City
- ●One soil character for all of Boulder City
- ●Frost dates read at Boulder City's scale: Jan 25 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Boulder City's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Boulder City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Boulder City, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Boulder City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Boulder City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Boulder City average
How we know this about Boulder City
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Clark County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Boulder City
When does frost risk typically end in Boulder City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Boulder City typically lands around Jan 25, 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 Feb 15.
When is the first frost in Boulder City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Boulder City typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Boulder City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Boulder City sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Jan 25 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 15 to Nov 28, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Boulder City?
The federal record around Boulder City is a meaningful one — 70 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Brownfields record about 4.6 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 Boulder City?
From about Nov 12 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 Dec 12 (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 Dec 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Boulder City's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Boulder City'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 Boulder City’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Boulder City's own scale — the 135,859 acres it covers and 70 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Boulder City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 70 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Boulder City, the closest Brownfields record about 4.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Boulder City's boundary and the 135,859 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Boulder City's own centroid, the Mojave Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Boulder City has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Clark County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Boulder City's 135,859 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clark County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clark County
- The growing challenges every Nevada grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nevada
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Clark County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Boulder City's 135,859 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Boulder City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 135,859 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 4.6 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 Boulder City-wide figureread your own land →
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