Cody, 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 cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cody, 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 Cody 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 Cody — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cody — the short answer
Cody, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 159 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~159
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Cody's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cody's 159-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cody
Each reading below is measured for Cody itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCody runs about 159 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
MeasuredCody 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 Cody is in
Cody sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Cody's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Park County is mostly Middle Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Cody
Every plant below cleared Cody's own zone 5a and its 159-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cody?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Cody
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cody. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Red Barn ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Buffalo Bill Stations, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Gunbarrell StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATIONBrownfields · 1200 ft
- T. J. JonesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CODY ELECTRIC CONTRACTOR, LLCBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Maverik Country Store #202Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- ALBERTSON'S #2061 CODYBrownfields · 1500 ft
- DENNY MENHOLT CHEVROLET BUICKBrownfields · 1500 ft
- Red Eagle Fuels #26Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Denny Menholt ChevroletUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cody'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 Cody.
Total Sites
172
within ~10 miles of Cody
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cody
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cody
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Cody
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 Cody average
Your land is one point inside Cody
Everything above resolves to Cody as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Cody Average
Cody Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Cody
- ●One soil character for all of Cody
- ●Frost dates read at Cody's scale: May 1 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cody's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cody
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cody, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cody averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cody — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cody average
How we know this about Cody
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 Cody’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 Cody
When does frost risk typically end in Cody?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cody typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Cody?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cody typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 159 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cody?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cody sees about 159 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 23, about 124 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cody?
The federal record around Cody is a meaningful one — 172 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (101), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Cody?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cody's scale — its 5a band and its 159-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cody'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 Cody’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cody's own scale — its own ~159-day season between 28°F freezes, the 6,556 acres it covers and 172 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cody's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cody's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 7 and the ~159-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 172 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cody, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cody's boundary and the 6,556 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~159-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Cody sits in the Wyoming Basin — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cody's 6,556 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Park County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Park 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 Park County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cody's 6,556 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cody you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,556 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 Cody-wide figureread your own land →
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