Paxton, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Paxton, 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 Paxton 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 Paxton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Paxton — the short answer
Paxton, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 6a is Paxton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paxton's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paxton
Each reading below is measured for Paxton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPaxton runs about 196 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
MeasuredPaxton sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Paxton is in
Paxton sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Paxton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ford County.
What Grows in Paxton
Every plant below cleared Paxton's own zone 6a and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Paxton?
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 Mar 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Paxton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paxton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Eastern Illini Electric Co-OpUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Caseys General Stores, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SHIELDS AUTOMARTBrownfields · 1200 ft
- JONES BODY & FRAME SHOPBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Eaves Auto Repair ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Village Pantry #1209Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Houston Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Casey's General Store #2929Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Paxton AmocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- William L FoxUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Ludlow CoopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Ford County Sheriffs DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Paxton'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 Paxton.
Total Sites
68
within ~10 miles of Paxton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Paxton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paxton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Paxton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Paxton — CAFO (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (42 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Paxton
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 Paxton average
Your land is one point inside Paxton
Everything above resolves to Paxton 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 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 Paxton Average
Paxton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Paxton
- ●One soil character for all of Paxton
- ●Frost dates read at Paxton's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paxton's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paxton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paxton, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paxton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paxton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paxton average
How we know this about Paxton
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 Paxton’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 Paxton
When does frost risk typically end in Paxton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paxton typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Paxton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paxton typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Paxton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paxton sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 9, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Paxton?
The federal record around Paxton shows 68 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (42), 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 Paxton?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Paxton's scale — its 6a band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paxton'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 Paxton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Paxton's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,943 acres it covers and 68 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paxton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Paxton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 23 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 68 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paxton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paxton's boundary and the 1,943 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Paxton'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 Paxton's 1,943 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ford 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 Ford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Paxton's 1,943 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paxton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,943 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 Paxton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisPaxton sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.