Irving, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Irving, 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 Irving 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 Irving — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Irving — the short answer
Irving, Illinois: USDA zone 6b, about 221 days between hard freezes, across 574 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~221
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 574 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 Irving's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Irving's 221-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Irving
Each reading below is measured for Irving itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredIrving runs about 221 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
MeasuredIrving 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 Irving is in
Irving sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Irving's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montgomery County.
What Grows in Irving
Every plant below cleared Irving's own zone 6b and its 221-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Irving?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 6 — 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 Irving
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Irving. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Brook Home Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- Irving Township OfUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- Caulk Trucking, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Casey's General Store #1509Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Montgomery Service Co.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Fuller BrosUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- MARATHON PIPELINE LLCBrownfields · 3.7 mi
- 9N 3W-31.4aNitrate · 3.9 mi
- AMERENIP - HILLSBORO GAS STORAGE FIELDBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- IDOTBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- Schram City Village OfUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- Petray Bus SerUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Irving'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 Irving.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Irving
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Irving
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Irving, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Irving. 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.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Irving
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 Irving average
Your land is one point inside Irving
Everything above resolves to Irving as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 574 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 Irving Average
Irving Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Irving
- ●One soil character for all of Irving
- ●Frost dates read at Irving's scale: Mar 30 to Nov 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Irving's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Irving
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Irving, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Irving averages can't show:
We read public map data around Irving — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Irving average
How we know this about Irving
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 Irving’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 Irving
When does frost risk typically end in Irving?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Irving typically lands around Mar 30, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Irving?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Irving typically arrives around Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 23, so the watching starts about Oct 7 — about 221 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Irving?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Irving sees about 221 frost-free days — roughly Mar 30 through Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 20 to Oct 23, about 186 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Irving?
The federal record around Irving is a meaningful one — 122 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (72), 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 Irving?
From about Oct 7 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Irving's scale — its 6b band and its 221-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Irving'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 Irving’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Irving's own scale — its own ~221-day season between 28°F freezes, the 574 acres it covers and 122 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Irving's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Irving's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 30 and Nov 6 and the ~221-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 122 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Irving, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Irving's boundary and the 574 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~221-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Irving'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 Irving's 574 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Montgomery County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Montgomery 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 Montgomery County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Irving's 574 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Irving you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 574 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 Irving-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisIrving sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides