Manderson, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Manderson, 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 Manderson 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 Manderson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Manderson — the short answer
Manderson, Wyoming: USDA zone 4b, about 168 days between hard freezes, across 546 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~168
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 546 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 4b is Manderson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Manderson's 168-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Manderson
Each reading below is measured for Manderson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredManderson runs about 168 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
MeasuredManderson sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Manderson is in
Manderson sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Manderson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Big Horn County.
What Grows in Manderson
Every plant below cleared Manderson's own zone 4b and its 168-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Manderson?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — 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 Manderson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Manderson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 50-092-31bba01Nitrate · 450 ft
- Town of Manderson - Town HallUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Manderson Elementary SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Manderson Auto BodyUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- COWBOY TIMBER TREATINGSuperfund · 1.0 mi
- COWBOY TIMBER TREATINGToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- Cowboy Timber Treating, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 50-092-32cab02Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 50-092-32adb01Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- Fred LushUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- 50-093-26cdd01Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- Hiway Bar and CaféUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Manderson'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 Manderson.
Total Sites
75
within ~10 miles of Manderson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Manderson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Manderson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Manderson, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Manderson. 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 Manderson
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 Manderson average
Your land is one point inside Manderson
Everything above resolves to Manderson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 546 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 Manderson Average
Manderson Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Manderson
- ●One soil character for all of Manderson
- ●Frost dates read at Manderson's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Manderson's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Manderson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Manderson, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Manderson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Manderson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Manderson average
How we know this about Manderson
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 Manderson’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 Manderson
When does frost risk typically end in Manderson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Manderson typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Manderson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Manderson typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 168 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Manderson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Manderson sees about 168 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Sep 26, about 133 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Manderson?
The federal record around Manderson is a meaningful one — 75 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (38), the nearest Nitrate 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 Manderson?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Manderson's scale — its 4b band and its 168-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Manderson'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 Manderson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Manderson's own scale — its own ~168-day season between 28°F freezes, the 546 acres it covers and 75 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Manderson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Manderson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 10 and the ~168-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 75 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Manderson, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Manderson's boundary and the 546 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~168-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Manderson's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Manderson's 546 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Big Horn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Big Horn 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 Big Horn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Manderson's 546 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Manderson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 546 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Manderson-wide figureread your own land →
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