Paragonah, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Paragonah, 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 Paragonah 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 Paragonah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Paragonah — the short answer
Paragonah, Utah: USDA zone 6a, about 160 days between hard freezes, across 443 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- 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
- ~160
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 443 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 Paragonah's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paragonah's 160-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paragonah
Each reading below is measured for Paragonah itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredParagonah runs about 160 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
MeasuredParagonah 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 Paragonah is in
Paragonah sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Paragonah's own centroid rather than borrowed from Iron County.
What Grows in Paragonah
Every plant below cleared Paragonah's own zone 6a and its 160-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Paragonah?
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 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Paragonah
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paragonah. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- (C-33- 8)31ccc- 1Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- UDOT # 4478Underground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- PAROWAN MINE TAILINGSSuperfund · 3.5 mi
- PAROWAN TRAVEL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- OLD UDOT STA. #526Underground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- FADS AUTO PARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- DAIRY FREEZUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- PAROWAN HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- WILD BILL'S EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- BURTON'S DIST.Underground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- PAROWAN CITY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- TILTON PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Paragonah'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 Paragonah.
Total Sites
32
within ~10 miles of Paragonah
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Paragonah
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paragonah
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Paragonah, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 12 sites within ~10 miles of Paragonah. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Paragonah
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 Paragonah average
Your land is one point inside Paragonah
Everything above resolves to Paragonah as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 443 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 Paragonah Average
Paragonah Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Paragonah
- ●One soil character for all of Paragonah
- ●Frost dates read at Paragonah's scale: May 3 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paragonah's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paragonah
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paragonah, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paragonah averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paragonah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paragonah average
How we know this about Paragonah
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 Paragonah’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 Paragonah
When does frost risk typically end in Paragonah?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paragonah typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Paragonah?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paragonah 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 160 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Paragonah?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paragonah sees about 160 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 26, about 125 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Paragonah?
The federal record around Paragonah is a meaningful one — 32 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (16), the nearest Nitrate record about 2.2 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 Paragonah?
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 Paragonah's scale — its 6a band and its 160-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paragonah'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 Paragonah’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Paragonah's own scale — its own ~160-day season between 28°F freezes, the 443 acres it covers and 32 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paragonah's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Paragonah's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 10 and the ~160-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 32 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paragonah, the closest Nitrate record about 2.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paragonah's boundary and the 443 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~160-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Paragonah'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 Paragonah's 443 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Iron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Iron 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 Iron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Paragonah's 443 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paragonah you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 443 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 2.2 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 Paragonah-wide figureread your own land →
More in Utah
Wider growing context
What grows across UtahParagonah sits outside our named growing regions, so Utah as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides