Donnelly, Idaho, 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.
These conditions suit okra, cranberry, lavender, and pumpkin — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Donnelly, 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 Donnelly 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 Donnelly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Donnelly — the short answer
Donnelly, Idaho: USDA zone 5a, about 113 days between hard freezes, across 457 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~113
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 457 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 Donnelly's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Donnelly's 113-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Donnelly
Each reading below is measured for Donnelly itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDonnelly runs about 113 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
MeasuredDonnelly 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 Donnelly is in
Donnelly sits in the Idaho Batholith — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Donnelly's own centroid rather than borrowed from Valley County.
What Grows in Donnelly
Every plant below cleared Donnelly's own zone 5a and its 113-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Donnelly?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Donnelly
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Donnelly. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- J & J SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- STINKER STORE #78Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- 16N 03E 09CBBD1Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- C & C EXCAVATING INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- 16N 03E 22CBA1Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 16N 03E 22CBA2Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 16N 03E 14AAB1Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 17N 03E 34DCCC1Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- 16N 03E 26DDAB2Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- HELCO PORTABLE CONCRETE PLANT (DONNELLY) 302231Toxics Release Inventory · 3.5 mi
- 17N 03E 26ADD1Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- 16N 03E 26DDDA1Nitrate · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Donnelly'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 Donnelly.
Total Sites
43
within ~10 miles of Donnelly
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Donnelly
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Donnelly
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Donnelly, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Donnelly. 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 Donnelly
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 Donnelly average
Your land is one point inside Donnelly
Everything above resolves to Donnelly as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 457 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 city 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 Donnelly Average
Donnelly Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Donnelly
- ●One soil character for all of Donnelly
- ●Frost dates read at Donnelly's scale: May 27 to Sep 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Donnelly's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Donnelly
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Donnelly, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Donnelly averages can't show:
We read public map data around Donnelly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Donnelly average
How we know this about Donnelly
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Donnelly’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Donnelly
When does frost risk typically end in Donnelly?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Donnelly typically lands around May 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Donnelly?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Donnelly typically arrives around Sep 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 3, so the watching starts about Aug 18 — about 113 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Donnelly?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Donnelly sees about 113 frost-free days — roughly May 27 through Sep 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 17 to Sep 3, about 78 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Donnelly?
The federal record around Donnelly is light — 43 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (30), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Donnelly?
With about 113 frost-free days between hard freezes, Donnelly 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 141 to 169 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 27 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Donnelly's scale — its 5a band and its 113-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Donnelly'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 Donnelly’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Donnelly's own scale — its own ~113-day season between 28°F freezes, the 457 acres it covers and 43 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Donnelly's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Donnelly's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 27 and Sep 17 and the ~113-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 43 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Donnelly, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Donnelly's boundary and the 457 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~113-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Donnelly's own centroid, the Idaho BatholithUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Donnelly's 457 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Valley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Valley County
- The growing challenges every Idaho grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Idaho
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Valley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Donnelly's 457 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Donnelly you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 457 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Donnelly-wide figureread your own land →
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