Lena, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lena, 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 Lena 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 Lena — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lena — the short answer
Lena, Illinois: USDA zone 5a, about 185 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~185
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 5a is Lena's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lena's 185-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lena
Each reading below is measured for Lena itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLena runs about 185 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLena sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Lena is in
Lena sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lena's own centroid rather than borrowed from Stephenson County.
What Grows in Lena
Every plant below cleared Lena's own zone 5a and its 185-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lena?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Lena
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lena. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Jim's StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- Casey's General Store 3482Underground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- Lena Fast StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- BARKAU CHEVROLET INCBrownfields · 550 ft
- Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Renter FriedaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Werhane Enterprises LtdUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Lobdell Trans IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Lena Farmers ExchangeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Lena Comm Park DistUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Lena Sales IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Lena Food & LiquorUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lena'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 Lena.
Total Sites
103
within ~10 miles of Lena
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lena
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lena
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lena, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 11 sites within ~10 miles of Lena. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Lena
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 Lena average
Your land is one point inside Lena
Everything above resolves to Lena as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Lena Average
Lena Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Lena
- ●One soil character for all of Lena
- ●Frost dates read at Lena's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lena's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lena
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lena, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lena averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lena — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lena average
How we know this about Lena
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 Lena’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 Lena
When does frost risk typically end in Lena?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lena typically lands around Apr 18, 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 May 9.
When is the first frost in Lena?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lena typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 185 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lena?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lena sees about 185 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 6, about 150 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lena?
The federal record around Lena shows 103 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (60), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lena?
From about Sep 20 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 Oct 20 (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 Oct 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lena's scale — its 5a band and its 185-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lena'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 Lena’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lena's own scale — its own ~185-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,697 acres it covers and 103 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lena's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lena's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 20 and the ~185-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 103 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lena, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lena's boundary and the 1,697 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~185-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lena's own centroid, the Central Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lena's 1,697 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Stephenson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Stephenson 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 Stephenson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lena's 1,697 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lena you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,697 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 Lena-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisLena sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides