Lusk, 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.
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 Lusk, 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 Lusk 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 Lusk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lusk — the short answer
Lusk, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 144 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~144
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Lusk's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lusk's 144-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lusk
Each reading below is measured for Lusk itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLusk runs about 144 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
MeasuredLusk 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 Lusk is in
Lusk sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lusk's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Niobrara County is mostly Northwestern Great Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Lusk
Every plant below cleared Lusk's own zone 5a and its 144-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lusk?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Lusk
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lusk. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NIOBRARA ROAD AND BRIDGEBrownfields · 550 ft
- Niobrara County Road and BridgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Niobrara County School District #1Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Vollmer Machine Shop, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Lusk Standard ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GASFIRE SERVICESBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Pink Panther CampgroundUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Town of LuskUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Key Bank of Wyoming LuskUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Formerly Kuhn Aircraft and EquipmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Bartow Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- HIWAY BRAKE AND ALIGNMENTBrownfields · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lusk'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 Lusk.
Total Sites
70
within ~10 miles of Lusk
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lusk
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lusk
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lusk, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 32 sites within ~10 miles of Lusk. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Lusk
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 Lusk average
Your land is one point inside Lusk
Everything above resolves to Lusk as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Lusk Average
Lusk Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Lusk
- ●One soil character for all of Lusk
- ●Frost dates read at Lusk's scale: May 12 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lusk's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lusk
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lusk, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lusk averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lusk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lusk average
How we know this about Lusk
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 Lusk’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 Lusk
When does frost risk typically end in Lusk?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lusk typically lands around May 12, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Lusk?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lusk typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 144 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lusk?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lusk sees about 144 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 19, about 109 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lusk?
The federal record around Lusk shows 70 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (32), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Lusk?
With about 144 frost-free days between hard freezes, Lusk 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 172 to 200 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Lusk's scale — its 5a band and its 144-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lusk'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 Lusk’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lusk's own scale — its own ~144-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,324 acres it covers and 70 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lusk's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lusk's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 3 and the ~144-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 70 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lusk, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lusk's boundary and the 1,324 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~144-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Lusk sits in the High 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 Lusk's 1,324 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Niobrara County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Niobrara 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 Niobrara County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lusk's 1,324 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lusk you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,324 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Lusk-wide figureread your own land →
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