Francis, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Francis, 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 Francis 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 Francis — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Francis — the short answer
Francis, Utah: USDA zone 5b, about 127 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~127
- 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 5b is Francis's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Francis's 127-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Francis
Each reading below is measured for Francis itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFrancis runs about 127 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredFrancis sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Francis is in
Francis sits in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Francis's own centroid rather than borrowed from Summit County.
What Grows in Francis
Every plant below cleared Francis's own zone 5b and its 127-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Francis?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
Documented around Francis
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Francis, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Francis
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Francis. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UINTA JUNCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- (D- 2- 6)33cab- 1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- (D- 2- 6)29bcb- 1Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- (D- 2- 6)27ccc- 1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- (D- 2- 6)21ddb- 1Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- (D- 3- 6) 4aad- 1Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- UDOT STA. # 2437 KAMASUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- LEAVITT LUMBER CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- KAMAS ROAD SHEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- LEAVITT LUMBER CO., INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- KAMAS 7-ELEVENUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- KAMAS FOOD TOWN SINCLAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Francis'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 Francis.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Francis
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Francis
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Francis, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Francis — Mining (43 sites) and Nitrate (110 sites). 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Francis
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 Francis average
Your land is one point inside Francis
Everything above resolves to Francis 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 Francis Average
Francis Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Francis
- ●One soil character for all of Francis
- ●Frost dates read at Francis's scale: May 23 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Francis's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Francis
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Francis, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Francis averages can't show:
We read public map data around Francis — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Francis average
How we know this about Francis
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 Francis’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 Francis
When does frost risk typically end in Francis?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Francis typically lands around May 23, 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 Jun 13.
When is the first frost in Francis?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Francis typically arrives around Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 13, so the watching starts about Aug 28 — about 127 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Francis?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Francis sees about 127 frost-free days — roughly May 23 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 13 to Sep 13, about 92 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Francis?
The federal record around Francis runs heavier than most — 194 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (110), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 gardeners stretch the season in Francis?
With about 127 frost-free days between hard freezes, Francis rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 155 to 183 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 23 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Francis's scale — its 5b band and its 127-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Francis'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 Francis’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Francis's own scale — its own ~127-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,467 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Francis's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Francis's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 23 and Sep 27 and the ~127-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Francis, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Francis's boundary and the 2,467 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~127-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Francis's own centroid, the Wasatch and Uinta MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Francislydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Francis's 2,467 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Summit County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Summit County
- The growing challenges every Utah grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Utah
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Summit County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Francis's 2,467 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Francis you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,467 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Francis-wide figureread your own land →