Fontenelle, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — zucchini, cranberry, cilantro, and okra — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Fontenelle, 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 Fontenelle 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 Fontenelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fontenelle — the short answer
Fontenelle, Wyoming: USDA zone 4a, about 104 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~104
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 4a is Fontenelle's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fontenelle's 104-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fontenelle
Each reading below is measured for Fontenelle itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFontenelle runs about 104 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
MeasuredFontenelle sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Fontenelle is in
Fontenelle sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Fontenelle's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Fontenelle
Every plant below cleared Fontenelle's own zone 4a and its 104-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fontenelle?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Fontenelle
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fontenelle. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Kemmerer StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Seedskidee Fontenelle DamUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Fontenelle Power Feed StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- US BUR OF RECLAMATION, FONT DAM & PWRPLBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- Exxon-Mobil Shute Creek FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- PACIFICORP - NAUGHTON PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 8.5 mi
- PACIFICORP - NAUGHTON PLANTBrownfields · 8.5 mi
- Naughton Power PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
Measured from Fontenelle'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 Fontenelle.
Total Sites
8
within ~10 miles of Fontenelle
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fontenelle
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fontenelle
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.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Fontenelle
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 Fontenelle average
Your land is one point inside Fontenelle
Everything above resolves to Fontenelle as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Fontenelle Average
Fontenelle Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Fontenelle
- ●One soil character for all of Fontenelle
- ●Frost dates read at Fontenelle's scale: May 30 to Sep 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fontenelle's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fontenelle
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fontenelle, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fontenelle averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fontenelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fontenelle average
How we know this about Fontenelle
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 Fontenelle’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 Fontenelle
When does frost risk typically end in Fontenelle?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fontenelle typically lands around May 30, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Fontenelle?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fontenelle typically arrives around Sep 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 28, so the watching starts about Aug 12 — about 104 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fontenelle?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fontenelle sees about 104 frost-free days — roughly May 30 through Sep 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 20 to Aug 28, about 69 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fontenelle?
The federal record around Fontenelle is light — 8 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (5), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Fontenelle?
With about 104 frost-free days between hard freezes, Fontenelle 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 132 to 160 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 30 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Fontenelle's scale — its 4a band and its 104-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fontenelle'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 Fontenelle’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fontenelle's own scale — its own ~104-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,225 acres it covers and 8 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fontenelle's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fontenelle's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 30 and Sep 11 and the ~104-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 8 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fontenelle, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fontenelle's boundary and the 2,225 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~104-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fontenelle's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fontenelle's 2,225 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fontenelle's 2,225 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fontenelle you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,225 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.1 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 Fontenelle-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingFontenelle sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides