Centralia, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Centralia, 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 Centralia 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 Centralia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Centralia — the short answer
Centralia, Illinois: USDA zone 6b, about 223 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 27
- 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
- ~223
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 6b is Centralia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Centralia's 223-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Centralia
Each reading below is measured for Centralia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCentralia runs about 223 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
MeasuredCentralia sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Centralia is in
Centralia sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Centralia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marion County.
What Grows in Centralia
Every plant below cleared Centralia's own zone 6b and its 223-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Centralia?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 27 (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. 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 Centralia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Centralia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Hucks (former store #164)Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Former Raymond Schnitz Meyer ProUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Cas Division Of Borden IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Brenton JamesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CENTRALIA INDUSTRIAL PAINTINGBrownfields · 1600 ft
- Centralia Fire DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- PENNINGTON FORD CENTRALIA LLCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- Fairview Super KUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Caseys General Stores IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- FasMart #567Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Circle K #1349Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Centralia Jr High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Centralia'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 Centralia.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Centralia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Centralia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Centralia, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Centralia — Superfund (7 sites) and CAFO (4 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Centralia
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 Centralia average
Your land is one point inside Centralia
Everything above resolves to Centralia 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 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 Centralia Average
Centralia Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Centralia
- ●One soil character for all of Centralia
- ●Frost dates read at Centralia's scale: Mar 27 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Centralia's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Centralia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Centralia, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Centralia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Centralia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Centralia average
How we know this about Centralia
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 Centralia’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 Centralia
When does frost risk typically end in Centralia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Centralia typically lands around Mar 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 Apr 17.
When is the first frost in Centralia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Centralia 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 223 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Centralia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Centralia sees about 223 frost-free days — roughly Mar 27 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 17 to Oct 22, about 188 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Centralia?
The federal record around Centralia is a meaningful one — 202 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (120), 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 Centralia?
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 Centralia's scale — its 6b band and its 223-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Centralia'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 Centralia’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Centralia's own scale — its own ~223-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,248 acres it covers and 202 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Centralia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Centralia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 27 and Nov 5 and the ~223-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 202 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Centralia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Centralia's boundary and the 5,248 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~223-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Centralia's own centroid, the Interior River Valleys and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Centralia's 5,248 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marion County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marion 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 Marion County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Centralia's 5,248 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Centralia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,248 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 Centralia-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisCentralia sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides