Point of Rocks, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Point of Rocks, 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 Point of Rocks 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 Point of Rocks — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Point of Rocks — the short answer
Point of Rocks, 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 Point of Rocks's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Point of Rocks's 144-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Point of Rocks
Each reading below is measured for Point of Rocks itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPoint of Rocks 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
MeasuredPoint of Rocks 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 Point of Rocks is in
Point of Rocks sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Point of Rocks's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sweetwater County.
What Grows in Point of Rocks
Every plant below cleared Point of Rocks'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 Point of Rocks?
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 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 Point of Rocks
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Point of Rocks. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Point of Rocks MercantileUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 20-101-27bcd01Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 20-101-27caa01Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- BLACK BUTTE LEUCITE_HILLS MINEToxics Release Inventory · 3.2 mi
- JIM BRIDGER POWER PLANTBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- JIM BRIDGER PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 4.0 mi
- QUESTAR PIPELINE COMPANY - CKNBrownfields · 7.6 mi
- SLT EXPRESS WAY INC DBA SECURED LAND TRANSPORTBrownfields · 7.6 mi
- 21-101-21ada01Nitrate · 7.6 mi
- 19-099-06dcb01Nitrate · 9.0 mi
- POINT OF ROCKS COMPRESSOR STATIONBrownfields · 9.2 mi
- 18-100-08cc 02Nitrate · 9.9 mi
Measured from Point of Rocks'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 Point of Rocks.
Total Sites
17
within ~10 miles of Point of Rocks
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Point of Rocks
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Point of Rocks
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •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 Point of Rocks
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 Point of Rocks average
Your land is one point inside Point of Rocks
Everything above resolves to Point of Rocks 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 Point of Rocks Average
Point of Rocks Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Point of Rocks
- ●One soil character for all of Point of Rocks
- ●Frost dates read at Point of Rocks's scale: May 12 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Point of Rocks's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Point of Rocks
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Point of Rocks, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Point of Rocks averages can't show:
We read public map data around Point of Rocks — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Point of Rocks average
How we know this about Point of Rocks
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 Point of Rocks’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 Point of Rocks
When does frost risk typically end in Point of Rocks?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Point of Rocks 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 Point of Rocks?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Point of Rocks 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 Point of Rocks?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Point of Rocks 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 Point of Rocks?
The federal record around Point of Rocks is light — 17 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Point of Rocks?
With about 144 frost-free days between hard freezes, Point of Rocks 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 Point of Rocks's scale — its 5a band and its 144-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Point of Rocks'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 Point of Rocks’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Point of Rocks's own scale — its own ~144-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,385 acres it covers and 17 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Point of Rocks's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Point of Rocks's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 3 and the ~144-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 17 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Point of Rocks, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Point of Rocks's boundary and the 1,385 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~144-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Point of Rocks's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Point of Rocks's 1,385 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 Point of Rocks's 1,385 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Point of Rocks you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,385 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Point of Rocks-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingPoint of Rocks sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides