Burlington, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Burlington, 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 Burlington 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 Burlington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Burlington — the short answer
Burlington, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 647 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 647 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 5a is Burlington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Burlington's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Burlington
Each reading below is measured for Burlington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBurlington runs about 165 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
MeasuredBurlington sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Burlington is in
Burlington sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Burlington's own centroid rather than borrowed from Big Horn County.
What Grows in Burlington
Every plant below cleared Burlington's own zone 5a and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Burlington?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — 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 Burlington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Burlington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Krause RanchUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- Burlington Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Country Cash and SaveUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 52-096-29dcb01Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- 52-096-29bba01Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- Farmers Canal Company ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 52-096-28cbc01Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 52-096-32ccb02Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 52-096-32ccb01Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 52-096-32dcb01Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 52-096-32ccc01Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- 52-097-25dbc02Nitrate · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Burlington'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 Burlington.
Total Sites
93
within ~10 miles of Burlington
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Burlington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Burlington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Burlington, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 86 sites within ~10 miles of Burlington. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Burlington
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 Burlington average
Your land is one point inside Burlington
Everything above resolves to Burlington as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 647 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 Burlington Average
Burlington Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Burlington
- ●One soil character for all of Burlington
- ●Frost dates read at Burlington's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Burlington's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Burlington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Burlington, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Burlington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Burlington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Burlington average
How we know this about Burlington
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 Burlington’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 Burlington
When does frost risk typically end in Burlington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Burlington typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Burlington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Burlington typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Burlington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Burlington sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Sep 25, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Burlington?
The federal record around Burlington shows 93 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (86), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Burlington?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Burlington's scale — its 5a band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Burlington'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 Burlington’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Burlington's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 647 acres it covers and 93 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Burlington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Burlington's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 9 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 93 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Burlington, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Burlington's boundary and the 647 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Burlington's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Burlington's 647 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Big Horn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Big Horn County
- The growing challenges every Wyoming grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wyoming
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Big Horn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Burlington's 647 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Burlington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 647 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Burlington-wide figureread your own land →
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