Reliance, 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 Reliance, 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 Reliance 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 Reliance — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Reliance — the short answer
Reliance, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Reliance's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Reliance's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Reliance
Each reading below is measured for Reliance itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredReliance runs about 149 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
MeasuredReliance 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 Reliance is in
Reliance sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Reliance's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sweetwater County.
What Grows in Reliance
Every plant below cleared Reliance's own zone 5a and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Reliance?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — 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 Reliance
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Reliance. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Foster Quarter HorsesUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- West Winds Properties, Ltd.Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Reliance Bungalow GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Red Horse Oil Company, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Baroid Drilling Fluids, Inc..Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Tuboscope, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Western Wyoming BeveragesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- UNIVAR USA ROCK SPRINGSToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- C&J ENERGY SERVICES ROCK SPRINGS FACILITYBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- Dowell SchlumbergerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- RELIANCE OPERATIONS FACILITYBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- VacantUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Reliance'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 Reliance.
Total Sites
339
within ~10 miles of Reliance
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Reliance
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Reliance
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 Reliance
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 Reliance average
Your land is one point inside Reliance
Everything above resolves to Reliance as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Reliance Average
Reliance Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Reliance
- ●One soil character for all of Reliance
- ●Frost dates read at Reliance's scale: May 8 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Reliance's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Reliance
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Reliance, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Reliance averages can't show:
We read public map data around Reliance — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Reliance average
How we know this about Reliance
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 Reliance’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 Reliance
When does frost risk typically end in Reliance?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Reliance typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Reliance?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Reliance typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Reliance?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Reliance sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 20, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Reliance?
The federal record around Reliance is a meaningful one — 339 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (194), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Reliance?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Reliance 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 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 8 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Reliance's scale — its 5a band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Reliance'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 Reliance’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Reliance's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,636 acres it covers and 339 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Reliance's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Reliance's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 4 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 339 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Reliance, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Reliance's boundary and the 2,636 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Reliance's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Reliance's 2,636 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 Reliance's 2,636 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Reliance you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,636 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Reliance-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingReliance sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides