Paradise Valley, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Paradise Valley, 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 Paradise Valley 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 Paradise Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Paradise Valley — the short answer
Paradise Valley, Nevada: USDA zone 6a, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~155
- 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 6a is Paradise Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paradise Valley's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paradise Valley
Each reading below is measured for Paradise Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredParadise Valley runs about 155 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
MeasuredParadise Valley sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Paradise Valley is in
Paradise Valley sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Paradise Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Humboldt County.
What Grows in Paradise Valley
Every plant below cleared Paradise Valley's own zone 6a and its 155-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Paradise Valley?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Paradise Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paradise Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 069 N42 E39 25CAB 1 USDANitrate · 0.6 mi
- Paradise Valley SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Paradise Valley Guard Station-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- Unnamed MineMining · 6.7 mi
- NBMG Sample Site 2609Mining · 6.8 mi
- Bullion Mill SiteMining · 7.1 mi
- Ford GroupMining · 7.2 mi
- Holt PropertyMining · 7.2 mi
- Lower Spring City CanyonMining · 7.3 mi
- P-3 ClaimsMining · 8.3 mi
- P-3 Claims #56Mining · 8.4 mi
- Silver Butte MineMining · 8.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Paradise Valley'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 Paradise Valley.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Paradise Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paradise Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Paradise Valley, Mining runs higher than the national average — 32 sites within ~10 miles of Paradise Valley. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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.
Check your specific parcel in Paradise Valley
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 Paradise Valley average
Your land is one point inside Paradise Valley
Everything above resolves to Paradise Valley 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 Paradise Valley Average
Paradise Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Paradise Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Paradise Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Paradise Valley's scale: May 6 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paradise Valley's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paradise Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paradise Valley, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paradise Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paradise Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paradise Valley average
How we know this about Paradise Valley
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 Paradise Valley’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 Paradise Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Paradise Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paradise Valley typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Paradise Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paradise Valley typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 155 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Paradise Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paradise Valley sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 24, about 120 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Paradise Valley?
The federal record around Paradise Valley runs heavier than most — 36 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (32), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out — 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Paradise Valley?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Paradise Valley's scale — its 6a band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paradise Valley'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 Paradise Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Paradise Valley's own scale — its own ~155-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,192 acres it covers and 36 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paradise Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Paradise Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 8 and the ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 36 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paradise Valley, the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paradise Valley's boundary and the 2,192 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Paradise Valley's own centroid, the Central Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Paradise Valley's 2,192 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Humboldt County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Humboldt 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 Humboldt County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Paradise Valley's 2,192 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paradise Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,192 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Paradise Valley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nevada
Growing region
Nearby growing guides