Williston, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Williston, 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 Williston 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 Williston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Williston — the short answer
Williston, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 150 days between hard freezes, across 16K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~150
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 16K 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 4a is Williston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Williston's 150-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Williston
Each reading below is measured for Williston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWilliston runs about 150 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
MeasuredWilliston sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Williston is in
Williston sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Williston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Williams County.
What Grows in Williston
Every plant below cleared Williston's own zone 4a and its 150-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Williston?
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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — 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 Williston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Williston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- V-TIC SERVICES INCBrownfields · 850 ft
- WILLISTON SOUTHToxics Release Inventory · 950 ft
- WILLISTON NORTHToxics Release Inventory · 950 ft
- 154-101-02BCBNitrate · 1600 ft
- BAKER HUGHES COMPLETIONSBrownfields · 1800 ft
- JMAC RESOURCES, INCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES, INC. - HALWEST FACILIToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- 154-101-02BBBNitrate · 0.5 mi
- CREEDENCE ENERGY SERVICES - WILLISTON (NORTH)Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- BLACK HILLS TRUCKING INC-WILLISTONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- ATLAS OIL - WILLISTON FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 0.8 mi
- STEALTH ENERGY GROUPBrownfields · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Williston'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 Williston.
Total Sites
224
within ~10 miles of Williston
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Williston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Williston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Williston, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 19 sites within ~10 miles of Williston. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Williston
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 Williston average
Your land is one point inside Williston
Everything above resolves to Williston as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 16K 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 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 Williston Average
Williston Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Williston
- ●One soil character for all of Williston
- ●Frost dates read at Williston's scale: May 5 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Williston's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Williston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Williston, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Williston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Williston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Williston average
How we know this about Williston
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 Williston’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 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 Williston
When does frost risk typically end in Williston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Williston typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Williston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Williston typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 150 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Williston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Williston sees about 150 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 18, about 115 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Williston?
The federal record around Williston is a meaningful one — 224 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (95), the nearest Brownfields 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 Williston?
From about Sep 2 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Williston's scale — its 4a band and its 150-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Williston'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 Williston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Williston's own scale — its own ~150-day season between 28°F freezes, the 16,470 acres it covers and 224 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Williston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Williston's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 2 and the ~150-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 224 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Williston, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Williston's boundary and the 16,470 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~150-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Williston's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Williston's 16,470 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Williams County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Williams County
- The growing challenges every North Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Dakota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Williams County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Williston's 16,470 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Williston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 16,470 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Williston-wide figureread your own land →
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