Alexander, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Alexander, 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 Alexander 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 Alexander — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Alexander — the short answer
Alexander, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 215 days between hard freezes, across 630 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~215
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 630 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 6a is Alexander's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alexander's 215-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Alexander
Each reading below is measured for Alexander itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAlexander runs about 215 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAlexander sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Alexander is in
Alexander sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Alexander's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Morgan County is mostly Interior River Valleys and Hills. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Alexander
Every plant below cleared Alexander's own zone 6a and its 215-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Alexander?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 31 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Alexander
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Alexander. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- James O. Harris FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Franklin Elevator OrleansUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Michael W Kaiser TruckingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Alexander Grade SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Marathon StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Alexander Fs FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- ARKO EXCHANGE LLC (CARGO BATTERY FIRE)Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- DONOVAN PROPERTIESSuperfund · 2.4 mi
- 15N 8W-17.4fNitrate · 2.5 mi
- Johnson FrederickUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- DUEWER FARM (RICH DUEWER)CAFO · 5.2 mi
- TEKSONICS INCBrownfields · 5.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Alexander'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 Alexander.
Total Sites
104
within ~10 miles of Alexander
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Alexander
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Alexander
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Alexander, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 71 sites within ~10 miles of Alexander. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Alexander
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 Alexander average
Your land is one point inside Alexander
Everything above resolves to Alexander as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 630 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 Alexander Average
Alexander Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Alexander
- ●One soil character for all of Alexander
- ●Frost dates read at Alexander's scale: Mar 30 to Oct 31
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Alexander's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Alexander
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alexander, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Alexander averages can't show:
We read public map data around Alexander — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alexander average
How we know this about Alexander
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 Alexander’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 Alexander
When does frost risk typically end in Alexander?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alexander typically lands around Mar 30, 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 Apr 20.
When is the first frost in Alexander?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Alexander typically arrives around Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 17, so the watching starts about Oct 1 — about 215 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Alexander?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alexander sees about 215 frost-free days — roughly Mar 30 through Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 20 to Oct 17, about 180 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alexander?
The federal record around Alexander is a meaningful one — 104 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (71), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 I protect my plants from frost in Alexander?
From about Oct 1 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 31 (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 31. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Alexander's scale — its 6a band and its 215-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alexander'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 Alexander’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Alexander's own scale — its own ~215-day season between 28°F freezes, the 630 acres it covers and 104 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Alexander's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Alexander's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 30 and Oct 31 and the ~215-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 104 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Alexander, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Alexander's boundary and the 630 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~215-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Alexander sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Alexander's 630 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Morgan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Morgan County
- The growing challenges every Illinois grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Illinois
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Morgan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alexander's 630 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Alexander you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 630 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 Alexander-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisAlexander sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides