Burr Ridge, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Burr Ridge, 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 Burr Ridge 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 Burr Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Burr Ridge — the short answer
Burr Ridge, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 214 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~214
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Burr Ridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Burr Ridge's 214-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Burr Ridge
Each reading below is measured for Burr Ridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBurr Ridge runs about 214 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
MeasuredBurr Ridge 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 Burr Ridge is in
Burr Ridge sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Burr Ridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from DuPage County.
What Grows in Burr Ridge
Every plant below cleared Burr Ridge's own zone 6a and its 214-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Burr Ridge?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around Burr Ridge
Spotted lanternfly documented 9 miles from Burr Ridge, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Burr Ridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Burr Ridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VISTA-PRO AUTOMOTIVE LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- Village of Burr RidgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- METALS ASSET MANAGEMENTToxics Release Inventory · 2100 ft
- Ricardo North AmericaUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- SAIA LTL-CGOBrownfields · 2400 ft
- BURR RIDGEPFAS · 0.6 mi
- WILLOWBROOKPFAS · 0.6 mi
- MARS WRIGLEYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- MARS WRIGLEYToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- MEADEN SCREW PRODUCTS COBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- MEADEN SCREW PRODUCTS COToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- Meaden Screw Products CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Burr Ridge'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 Burr Ridge.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Burr Ridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Burr Ridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Burr Ridge, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Burr Ridge — PFAS (44 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (262 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Burr Ridge
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 Burr Ridge average
Your land is one point inside Burr Ridge
Everything above resolves to Burr Ridge as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Burr Ridge Average
Burr Ridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Burr Ridge
- ●One soil character for all of Burr Ridge
- ●Frost dates read at Burr Ridge's scale: Apr 5 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Burr Ridge's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Burr Ridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Burr Ridge, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Burr Ridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Burr Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Burr Ridge average
How we know this about Burr Ridge
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 Burr Ridge’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 Burr Ridge
When does frost risk typically end in Burr Ridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Burr Ridge typically lands around Apr 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Burr Ridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Burr Ridge typically arrives around Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 22, so the watching starts about Oct 6 — about 214 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Burr Ridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Burr Ridge sees about 214 frost-free days — roughly Apr 5 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 26 to Oct 22, about 179 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Burr Ridge?
The federal record around Burr Ridge is a meaningful one — 3,440 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,713), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.3 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 Burr Ridge?
From about Oct 6 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 Nov 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 Nov 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Burr Ridge's scale — its 6a band and its 214-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Burr Ridge'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 Burr Ridge’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Burr Ridge's own scale — its own ~214-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,783 acres it covers and 3,440 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Burr Ridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Burr Ridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 5 and Nov 5 and the ~214-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 3,440 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Burr Ridge, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Burr Ridge's boundary and the 4,783 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~214-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Burr Ridge's own centroid, the Central Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Burr Ridgelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Burr Ridge's 4,783 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom DuPage County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom DuPage 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 DuPage County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Burr Ridge's 4,783 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Burr Ridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,783 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.3 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 Burr Ridge-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisBurr Ridge sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides