Cimarron, New Mexico, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Cimarron, 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 Cimarron 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 Cimarron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cimarron — the short answer
Cimarron, New Mexico: USDA zone 6a, about 164 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~164
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Cimarron's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cimarron's 164-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cimarron
Each reading below is measured for Cimarron itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCimarron runs about 164 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
MeasuredCimarron 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 Cimarron is in
Cimarron sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Cimarron's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Colfax County is mostly Southern Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Cimarron
Every plant below cleared Cimarron's own zone 6a and its 164-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Mexico profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cimarron?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Cimarron
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cimarron. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CIMARRON MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- UU BAR RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- DAVE HECK DBA WESTERN TRAILS TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- PHILMONT SCOUT RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CROCKETT DON DBA KIT CARSON TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- HICKMAN WILLIAM DUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- NMDOT CIMMARON PATROL YARD 44 53Underground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
Measured from Cimarron'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 Cimarron.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cimarron
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Cimarron
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 Cimarron average
Your land is one point inside Cimarron
Everything above resolves to Cimarron as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Cimarron Average
Cimarron Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Cimarron
- ●One soil character for all of Cimarron
- ●Frost dates read at Cimarron's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cimarron's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cimarron
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cimarron, New Mexico — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cimarron averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cimarron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cimarron average
How we know this about Cimarron
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 Cimarron’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 Cimarron
When does frost risk typically end in Cimarron?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cimarron typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Cimarron?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cimarron typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 164 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cimarron?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cimarron sees about 164 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 26, about 129 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cimarron?
The federal record around Cimarron is light — 7 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (7), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Cimarron?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cimarron's scale — its 6a band and its 164-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cimarron'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 Cimarron’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cimarron's own scale — its own ~164-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,355 acres it covers and 7 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cimarron's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cimarron's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 10 and the ~164-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 7 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cimarron, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cimarron's boundary and the 1,355 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~164-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Cimarron sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cimarron's 1,355 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Colfax County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Colfax County
- The growing challenges every New Mexico grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New Mexico
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Colfax County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cimarron's 1,355 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cimarron you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,355 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Cimarron-wide figureread your own land →