Hillsdale, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hillsdale, 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 Hillsdale 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 Hillsdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hillsdale — the short answer
Hillsdale, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 538 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
- 538 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 Hillsdale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hillsdale's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hillsdale
Each reading below is measured for Hillsdale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHillsdale 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
MeasuredHillsdale 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 Hillsdale is in
Hillsdale sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hillsdale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Laramie County.
What Grows in Hillsdale
Every plant below cleared Hillsdale's own zone 5a and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hillsdale?
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. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Hillsdale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hillsdale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Hillsdale SectionUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Hillsdale GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Moons HavenUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- 14-064-01dcd01Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 14-063-20bbb01Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- Harry L. EplerUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- TATOOINE INDUSTRIESSuperfund · 3.7 mi
- TA, TABrownfields · 3.9 mi
- Cheyenne Travel CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Burns Brothers, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- Launch Facility Alpha 8Underground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- 15-063-22aad01Nitrate · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hillsdale'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 Hillsdale.
Total Sites
58
within ~10 miles of Hillsdale
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hillsdale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hillsdale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hillsdale, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 36 sites within ~10 miles of Hillsdale. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Hillsdale
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 Hillsdale average
Your land is one point inside Hillsdale
Everything above resolves to Hillsdale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 538 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 Hillsdale Average
Hillsdale Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Hillsdale
- ●One soil character for all of Hillsdale
- ●Frost dates read at Hillsdale's scale: May 5 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hillsdale's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hillsdale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hillsdale, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hillsdale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hillsdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hillsdale average
How we know this about Hillsdale
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 Hillsdale’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 Hillsdale
When does frost risk typically end in Hillsdale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hillsdale 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 Hillsdale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hillsdale 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 Hillsdale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hillsdale 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 Hillsdale?
The federal record around Hillsdale is a meaningful one — 58 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (36), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Hillsdale?
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 Hillsdale's scale — its 5a band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hillsdale'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 Hillsdale’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hillsdale's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 538 acres it covers and 58 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hillsdale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hillsdale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 8 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 58 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hillsdale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hillsdale's boundary and the 538 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hillsdale's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hillsdale's 538 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Laramie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Laramie 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 Laramie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hillsdale's 538 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hillsdale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 538 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 Hillsdale-wide figureread your own land →
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