What Grows in Evansville, Wyoming

USDA Zones 5a · 3K acres

Evansville, 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.

Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Evansville, 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 Evansville 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 Evansville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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Evansville — the short answer

Evansville, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.

USDA zone
5a
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
May 5
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Oct 8
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~156
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Town area
3K 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

5a5a
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 5a is Evansville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Evansville's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Evansville

Each reading below is measured for Evansville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Evansville runs about 156 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

Measured

Evansville 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 Evansville is in

Evansville sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Evansville's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Natrona County is mostly Wyoming Basin. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Evansville

Every plant below cleared Evansville's own zone 5a and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in WyomingZones 2–11Evansville's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
cranberry, photograph
Wyoming cranberry guideZones 2–7Evansville's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
lavender, photograph
Lavender in WyomingZones 5–8Evansville's 5a is its exact cold limit.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Wyoming growing notesZones 2–11Evansville's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
hazelnut, photograph
Growing hazelnut in WyomingZones 4–9Evansville's 5a — 1 zone of cold margin.
French tarragon, photograph
Wyoming french tarragon guideZones 3–7Evansville's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in WyomingZones 2–10Evansville's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
blackberry, photograph
Blackberry: Wyoming growing notesZones 5–8Evansville's 5a is its exact cold limit.
St. Johns wort, photograph
Growing st. johns wort in WyomingZones 3–8Evansville's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
kale, photograph
Wyoming kale guideZones 2–11Evansville's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
pawpaw, photograph
Pawpaw in WyomingZones 5–9Evansville's 5a is its exact cold limit.
lentil, photograph
Lentil: Wyoming growing notesZones 2–11Evansville's 156 days clear the ~70 it needs.
okra, photograph
Growing okra in WyomingZones 2–12Evansville's 156 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Wyoming potato guideZones 2–11Evansville's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
pumpkin, photograph
Pumpkin in WyomingZones 3–11Evansville's 156 days clear the ~40 it needs.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Wyoming growing notesZones 3–8Evansville's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in WyomingZones 2–11Evansville's 156 days clear the ~70 it needs.
azalea, photograph
Wyoming azalea guideZones 4–8Evansville's 5a — 1 zone of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in WyomingZones 3–8Evansville's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Wyoming growing notesZones 3–10Evansville's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in WyomingEvansville's 156 days clear the ~50 it needs.
lilac, photograph
Wyoming lilac guideZones 4–10Evansville's 5a — 1 zone of cold margin.
American bittersweet, photograph
American bittersweet in WyomingZones 3–8Evansville's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
Canada anemone, photograph
Canada anemone: Wyoming growing notesZones 3–8Evansville's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
American elm, photograph
Growing american elm in WyomingZones 3–9Evansville's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.
annual ryegrass, photograph
Wyoming annual ryegrass guideZones 3–10Evansville's 156 days clear the ~90 it needs.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in WyomingZones 2–7Evansville's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
blue spruce, photograph
Blue spruce: Wyoming growing notesZones 2–8Evansville's 5a — 3 zones of cold margin.
balansa clover, photograph
Growing balansa clover in WyomingZones 3–9Evansville's 156 days clear the ~90 it needs.
Canada wild rye, photograph
Wyoming canada wild rye guideZones 3–8Evansville's 5a — 2 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Evansville?

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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.

What's on the federal record near Evansville

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Evansville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. CASPER SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITYBrownfields · 0.7 mi
  2. City of Casper BailfillUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
  3. 34-079-36dcd01Nitrate · 0.8 mi
  4. Texaco Refining and Marketing, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
  5. Town of EvansvilleUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
  6. Loaf 'N Jug #127Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
  7. Gerdom and Wright, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
  8. FORMER TEXACO CASPER REFINERYBrownfields · 1.1 mi
  9. Beatrice Dairy Products, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
  10. Northrop Boiler WorksUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
  11. Highway Oil Company (#835)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
  12. Coleman and Son, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Evansville'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 Evansville.

Total Sites

798

within ~10 miles of Evansville

Risk Level

Elevated

Highest-severity

4 Superfund sites

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Evansville

High3Moderate117Low678

Highest-Severity Sites

Casper, City of
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Mills, Town of
PFAS Sampling · PFAS Detected
Mystery Bridge Rd/U.S. Highway 20
Superfund · Superfund NPL
33-077-05bdd01
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
33-077-05bdd01
Nitrate Monitoring · Well

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.
  • TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Evansville

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 Evansville average

Your land is one point inside Evansville

Everything above resolves to Evansville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Evansville Average

Evansville Average

  • USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Evansville
  • One soil character for all of Evansville
  • Frost dates read at Evansville's scale: May 5 to Oct 8

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Evansville's 5a
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Evansville

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Evansville, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Evansville averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Evansville averages 156Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Evansville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Evansville average

How we know this about Evansville

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 Evansville’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 Evansville

When does frost risk typically end in Evansville?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Evansville typically lands around May 5, 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 26.

When is the first frost in Evansville?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Evansville typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 156 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Evansville?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Evansville sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 24, about 121 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Evansville?

The federal record around Evansville is a meaningful one — 798 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (443), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Evansville?

From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Evansville's scale — its 5a band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Evansville'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 Evansville’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at Evansville's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,513 acres it covers and 798 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Evansville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Evansville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 8 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 798 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Evansville, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Evansville's boundary and the 2,513 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • Evansville sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Evansville's 2,513 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Natrona County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Natrona 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 Natrona County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Evansville's 2,513 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Evansville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,513 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Evansville-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address

More in Wyoming

Wider growing context

What grows across Wyoming

Evansville sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.