Reynolds, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Reynolds, 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 Reynolds 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 Reynolds — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Reynolds — the short answer
Reynolds, Illinois: USDA zone 5b, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 236 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 236 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 5b is Reynolds's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Reynolds's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Reynolds
Each reading below is measured for Reynolds itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredReynolds runs about 199 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
MeasuredReynolds sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Reynolds is in
Reynolds sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Reynolds's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rock Island County.
What Grows in Reynolds
Every plant below cleared Reynolds's own zone 5b and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Reynolds?
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 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Reynolds
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Reynolds. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Reynolds Ser CtrUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Casey's General Store #2382Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MILLER AUTOBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Mzv VortacUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Mer-Roc Fs Reynolds PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- LC FAMILY FARMSCAFO · 2.8 mi
- DECLERCK BROTHERS SWINE FARMCAFO · 3.3 mi
- HAMPTON FARMSCAFO · 3.4 mi
- Bowling Township OfUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- Mueller Implement Co.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- Mueller GeraldUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- IMAC HOG FARMCAFO · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Reynolds'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 Reynolds.
Total Sites
212
within ~10 miles of Reynolds
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Reynolds
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Reynolds
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Reynolds, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Reynolds — CAFO (10 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Reynolds
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 Reynolds average
Your land is one point inside Reynolds
Everything above resolves to Reynolds as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 236 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 Reynolds Average
Reynolds Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Reynolds
- ●One soil character for all of Reynolds
- ●Frost dates read at Reynolds's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Reynolds's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Reynolds
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Reynolds, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Reynolds averages can't show:
We read public map data around Reynolds — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Reynolds average
How we know this about Reynolds
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 Reynolds’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 Reynolds
When does frost risk typically end in Reynolds?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Reynolds typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Reynolds?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Reynolds typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Reynolds?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Reynolds sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 13, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Reynolds?
The federal record around Reynolds is a meaningful one — 212 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (136), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Reynolds?
From about Sep 27 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Reynolds's scale — its 5b band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Reynolds'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 Reynolds’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Reynolds's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 236 acres it covers and 212 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Reynolds's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Reynolds's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 27 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 212 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Reynolds, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Reynolds's boundary and the 236 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Reynolds'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 Reynolds's 236 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rock Island County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rock Island 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 Rock Island County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Reynolds's 236 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Reynolds you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 236 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Reynolds-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisReynolds sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides