Alvan (Alvin), Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Alvan (Alvin), 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 Alvan (Alvin) 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 Alvan (Alvin) — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Alvan (Alvin) — the short answer
Alvan (Alvin), Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 204 days between hard freezes, across 508 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~204
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 508 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 Alvan (Alvin)'s average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alvan (Alvin)'s 204-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Alvan (Alvin)
Each reading below is measured for Alvan (Alvin) itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAlvan (Alvin) runs about 204 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
MeasuredAlvan (Alvin) 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 Alvan (Alvin) is in
Alvan (Alvin) sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Alvan (Alvin)'s own centroid rather than borrowed from Vermilion County.
What Grows in Alvan (Alvin)
Every plant below cleared Alvan (Alvin)'s own zone 6a and its 204-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Alvan (Alvin)?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Alvan (Alvin)
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Alvan (Alvin). Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- South Ross TownshipUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Danville VorUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Jewell Grain Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Bismarck Grade SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Bismarck Henning High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Consolidated Grain & Barge CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Old Phillips StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- B & L Auto ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Sohigro Ser CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Nesbitt StevenUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- UI VERMILLION RESEARCH OBSERVTYBrownfields · 4.8 mi
- Henning Grade SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Alvan (Alvin)'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 Alvan (Alvin).
Total Sites
60
within ~10 miles of Alvan (Alvin)
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Alvan (Alvin)
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Alvan (Alvin), Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 44 sites within ~10 miles of Alvan (Alvin). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Alvan (Alvin)
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 Alvan (Alvin) average
Your land is one point inside Alvan (Alvin)
Everything above resolves to Alvan (Alvin) as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 508 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 Alvan (Alvin) Average
Alvan (Alvin) Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Alvan (Alvin)
- ●One soil character for all of Alvan (Alvin)
- ●Frost dates read at Alvan (Alvin)'s scale: Apr 6 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Alvan (Alvin)'s 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Alvan (Alvin)
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alvan (Alvin), Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Alvan (Alvin) averages can't show:
We read public map data around Alvan (Alvin) — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alvan (Alvin) average
How we know this about Alvan (Alvin)
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 Alvan (Alvin)’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 Alvan (Alvin)
When does frost risk typically end in Alvan (Alvin)?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alvan (Alvin) typically lands around Apr 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Alvan (Alvin)?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Alvan (Alvin) typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 204 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Alvan (Alvin)?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alvan (Alvin) sees about 204 frost-free days — roughly Apr 6 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 27 to Oct 13, about 169 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alvan (Alvin)?
The federal record around Alvan (Alvin) is a meaningful one — 60 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (44), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Alvan (Alvin)?
From about Sep 27 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Alvan (Alvin)'s scale — its 6a band and its 204-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alvan (Alvin)'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 Alvan (Alvin)’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Alvan (Alvin)'s own scale — its own ~204-day season between 28°F freezes, the 508 acres it covers and 60 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Alvan (Alvin)'s own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Alvan (Alvin)'s own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 6 and Oct 27 and the ~204-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 60 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Alvan (Alvin), the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Alvan (Alvin)'s boundary and the 508 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~204-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Alvan (Alvin)'s own centroid, the Central Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Alvan (Alvin)'s 508 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Vermilion County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Vermilion 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 Vermilion County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alvan (Alvin)'s 508 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Alvan (Alvin) you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 508 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Alvan (Alvin)-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisAlvan (Alvin) sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.