White County, in Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
White County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across White County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 White County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
White County — the short answer
White County, Illinois: USDA zone 7a, about 219 days between hard freezes, across 317K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~219
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 317K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 7a is White County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against White County's 219-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in White County
Across a year, White County accumulates about 3,941 growing degree days above 50°F, about 558 more than the middle Illinois county — ahead of 87 of Illinois’s 102 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in White County
Across White County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Ava, Bonnie, and Belknap are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally poorly drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.9–6.6, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C/D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Poorly drained
Prime farmland
31%
Hydric soils
27%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across White County
The USDA soil survey maps 25% of White County as poorly drained — but another 73% drains differently: 24% well drained, 24% somewhat poorly drained.
Ava is the most extensive named soil at 13% of mapped acres, then Bonnie (6%) and Belknap (5%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in White County
Each reading below is measured for White County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across White County are poorly drained, in hydrologic group C/D — ground that sheds water slowly.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across White County runs about pH 5.9–6.6, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredWhite County runs about 219 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
MeasuredWhite County sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 White County is in
White County sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in White County
We scored all 1,086 plants against White County's own USDA zone 7a and its own 219-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile.
Is it too late to plant in White County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
What gets applied to farmland in White County
USGS estimates 113,371 lb of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s on White County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor-s (85,066 lb) and Glyphosate (81,454 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across White County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across White County — 118 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across White County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near White County
Closest first, across White County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Exxon Co Usa Field OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Hucks (former store #142)Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Hucks #142Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- HucksUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Felming FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Carmi Warehouse DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Pierson & PyleUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- West Side Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Jerrys Berries & GreenhousesUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Carmi Twp Road Dist GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Rock Bottom Liquor (formerly Hucks #257)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Mr GUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from White County'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 White County.
Total Sites
118
across White County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across White County
Severity Distribution
across White County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around White County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 90 sites across White County. 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 White County
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 White County average
Your land is one point inside White County
Everything above resolves to White County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 317K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the White County Average
White County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across White County
- ●One soil character for all of White County
- ●Frost dates read at White County's scale: Mar 29 to Nov 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not White County's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in White County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in White County, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that White County averages can't show:
We read public map data around White County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the White County average
How we know this about White County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where White County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about White County
When does frost risk typically end in White County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in White County typically lands around Mar 29, 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 19.
How long is the growing season in White County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, White County sees about 219 frost-free days — roughly Mar 29 through Nov 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 19 to Oct 20, about 184 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in White County?
The federal record around White County is a meaningful one — 118 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (90), 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.
Everything above is measured at White County's scale — its 7a band and its 219-day season. Your yard writes its own version of White County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Illinois's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at White County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at White County's own scale — its own ~219-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 118 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- White County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- White County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~219-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in White CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 118 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- White County's boundary and the 316,789 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~219-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- White County sitting wholly inside the Interior River Valleys and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto White County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Illinois grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Illinois
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across White County — the ~219 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among White County's 316,789 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 118 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over White Countyread your own land →