Green River, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Green River, 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 Green River 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 Green River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Green River — the short answer
Green River, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 145 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~145
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 9K 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 Green River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Green River's 145-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Green River
Each reading below is measured for Green River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGreen River runs about 145 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
MeasuredGreen River 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 Green River is in
Green River sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Green River's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sweetwater County.
What Grows in Green River
Every plant below cleared Green River's own zone 5a and its 145-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Green River?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Green River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Green River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Tucker's Jiffy StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- FRANK'S AUTO BODYBrownfields · 400 ft
- Loaf 'N Jug #153Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Sweetwater County School Bus ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Sweetwater County SD #2 Bus BarnUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SWEETWATER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT #2Brownfields · 1600 ft
- Gas-N-DashUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- GENTLE TOUCH DRY CLEANINGBrownfields · 2000 ft
- 18-107-22ddc01Nitrate · 2200 ft
- CHAMPION TECHNOLOGIESBrownfields · 2300 ft
- CHAMPION TECHNOLOGIESToxics Release Inventory · 2300 ft
- Pioneer SpecialtiesUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Green River'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 Green River.
Total Sites
98
within ~10 miles of Green River
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Green River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Green River
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 Green River
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 Green River average
Your land is one point inside Green River
Everything above resolves to Green River as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 9K 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 Green River Average
Green River Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Green River
- ●One soil character for all of Green River
- ●Frost dates read at Green River's scale: May 9 to Oct 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Green River's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Green River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Green River, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Green River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Green River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Green River average
How we know this about Green River
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 Green River’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 Green River
When does frost risk typically end in Green River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Green River typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Green River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Green River typically arrives around Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 17, so the watching starts about Sep 1 — about 145 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Green River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Green River sees about 145 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 17, about 110 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Green River?
The federal record around Green River is a meaningful one — 98 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (48), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Green River?
With about 145 frost-free days between hard freezes, Green River 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 173 to 201 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 9 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Green River's scale — its 5a band and its 145-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Green River'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 Green River’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Green River's own scale — its own ~145-day season between 28°F freezes, the 8,837 acres it covers and 98 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Green River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Green River's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 1 and the ~145-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 98 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Green River, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Green River's boundary and the 8,837 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~145-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Green River's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Green River's 8,837 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sweetwater County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sweetwater 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 Sweetwater County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Green River's 8,837 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Green River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,837 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 Green River-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingGreen River sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides