Shell, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Shell, 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 Shell 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 Shell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Shell — the short answer
Shell, Wyoming: USDA zone 4b, about 154 days between hard freezes, across 730 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~154
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 730 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 Shell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Shell's 154-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Shell
Each reading below is measured for Shell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredShell runs about 154 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
MeasuredShell 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 Shell is in
Shell sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Shell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Big Horn County.
What Grows in Shell
Every plant below cleared Shell's own zone 4b and its 154-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Shell?
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 Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Shell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Shell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- T and B VillaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- 53-091-27bca01Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 53-091-26aaa01Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- Dirty Annie's Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- 53-090-19ccd01Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- Wagon Wheel LodgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.2 mi
Measured from Shell'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 Shell.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Shell
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Shell
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 Shell average
Your land is one point inside Shell
Everything above resolves to Shell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 730 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 Shell Average
Shell Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Shell
- ●One soil character for all of Shell
- ●Frost dates read at Shell's scale: May 4 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Shell's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Shell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Shell, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Shell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Shell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Shell average
How we know this about Shell
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 Shell’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 Shell
When does frost risk typically end in Shell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Shell typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Shell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Shell typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 154 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Shell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Shell sees about 154 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 21, about 119 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Shell?
The federal record around Shell is light — 9 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (6), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 I protect my plants from frost in Shell?
From about Sep 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Shell's scale — its 4b band and its 154-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Shell'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 Shell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Shell's own scale — its own ~154-day season between 28°F freezes, the 730 acres it covers and 9 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Shell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Shell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 5 and the ~154-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 9 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Shell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Shell's boundary and the 730 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~154-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Shell's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Shell's 730 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 Shell's 730 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Shell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 730 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Shell-wide figureread your own land →
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