Centennial, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor okra, cranberry, lavender, and pumpkin, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Centennial, 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 Centennial 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 Centennial — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Centennial — the short answer
Centennial, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 114 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~114
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 10K 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 Centennial's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Centennial's 114-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Centennial
Each reading below is measured for Centennial itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCentennial runs about 114 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
MeasuredCentennial 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 Centennial is in
Centennial sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Centennial's own centroid rather than borrowed from Albany County.
What Grows in Centennial
Every plant below cleared Centennial's own zone 5a and its 114-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Centennial?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Centennial
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Centennial. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 16-078-35cb 01Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- Centennial Work CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Trading Post Dinner House and SaloonUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Friendly Store and Motel, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 15-078-03dab01Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 16-078-27cdb01Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 15-078-03ccb01Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- Utopia MineMining · 1.9 mi
- Platinum City MineMining · 2.4 mi
- Kentucky Derby MineMining · 2.6 mi
- Queen MineMining · 2.7 mi
- Free Gold ClaimMining · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Centennial'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 Centennial.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Centennial
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Centennial
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Centennial, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Centennial — Mining (17 sites) and Nitrate (20 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Centennial
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 Centennial average
Your land is one point inside Centennial
Everything above resolves to Centennial as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 10K 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 Centennial Average
Centennial Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Centennial
- ●One soil character for all of Centennial
- ●Frost dates read at Centennial's scale: May 24 to Sep 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Centennial's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Centennial
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Centennial, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Centennial averages can't show:
We read public map data around Centennial — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Centennial average
How we know this about Centennial
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 Centennial’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 Centennial
When does frost risk typically end in Centennial?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Centennial typically lands around May 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Centennial?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Centennial typically arrives around Sep 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 1, so the watching starts about Aug 16 — about 114 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Centennial?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Centennial sees about 114 frost-free days — roughly May 24 through Sep 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 14 to Sep 1, about 79 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Centennial?
The federal record around Centennial is light — 41 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (20), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 gardeners stretch the season in Centennial?
With about 114 frost-free days between hard freezes, Centennial 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 142 to 170 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 24 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Centennial's scale — its 5a band and its 114-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Centennial'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 Centennial’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Centennial's own scale — its own ~114-day season between 28°F freezes, the 10,432 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Centennial's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Centennial's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 24 and Sep 15 and the ~114-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Centennial, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Centennial's boundary and the 10,432 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~114-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Centennial's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Centennial's 10,432 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Albany County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Albany 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 Albany County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Centennial's 10,432 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Centennial you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,432 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Centennial-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingCentennial sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides