Hurst, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Hurst, 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 Hurst 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 Hurst — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hurst — the short answer
Hurst, Illinois: USDA zone 7a, about 220 days between hard freezes, across 568 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- 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 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~220
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 568 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 7a is Hurst's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hurst's 220-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hurst
Each reading below is measured for Hurst itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHurst runs about 220 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
MeasuredHurst 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 Hurst is in
Hurst sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hurst's own centroid rather than borrowed from Williamson County.
What Grows in Hurst
Every plant below cleared Hurst's own zone 7a and its 220-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hurst?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 2 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Hurst
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hurst. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TedsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Hurst Mini MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- T&T RECYCLING INCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Brown TedUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Caseys General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Holliday Mini Marts, Inc. d/b/a Royalton Mini MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Royalton Village OfUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 8772Brownfields · 3.4 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 13975Brownfields · 3.4 mi
- Walkers Bluff General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Williamson Coal CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- WILLIAMSON COAL COBrownfields · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hurst'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 Hurst.
Total Sites
285
within ~10 miles of Hurst
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hurst
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hurst
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hurst, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 187 sites within ~10 miles of Hurst. 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 Hurst
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 Hurst average
Your land is one point inside Hurst
Everything above resolves to Hurst as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 568 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 Hurst Average
Hurst Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Hurst
- ●One soil character for all of Hurst
- ●Frost dates read at Hurst's scale: Mar 27 to Nov 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hurst's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hurst
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hurst, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hurst averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hurst — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hurst average
How we know this about Hurst
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 Hurst’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 Hurst
When does frost risk typically end in Hurst?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hurst 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 Hurst?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hurst typically arrives around Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 19, so the watching starts about Oct 3 — about 220 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hurst?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hurst sees about 220 frost-free days — roughly Mar 27 through Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 17 to Oct 19, about 185 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hurst?
The federal record around Hurst is a meaningful one — 285 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (187), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Hurst?
From about Oct 3 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hurst's scale — its 7a band and its 220-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hurst'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 Hurst’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hurst's own scale — its own ~220-day season between 28°F freezes, the 568 acres it covers and 285 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hurst's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hurst's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 27 and Nov 2 and the ~220-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 285 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hurst, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hurst's boundary and the 568 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~220-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hurst'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 Hurst's 568 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Williamson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Williamson 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 Williamson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hurst's 568 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hurst you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 568 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Hurst-wide figureread your own land →